Following a surge of last-minute absentee ballot applications, Cobb Elections is collaborating with postal and delivery companies to expedite sending ballots to voters and ensure their timely return.

As of Wednesday, more than 3,000 absentee ballots requested by last Friday’s deadline had not been mailed. Elections workers will send most of them via USPS Express Mail or UPS Overnight Delivery by Friday morning. These ballots will include prepaid express return envelopes to ensure voters can return them by Tuesday’s deadline.

“We want to maintain voter trust by being transparent about the situation,” said Board of Elections Chairwoman Tori Silas. “We are taking every possible step to get these ballots to the voters who requested them. Unfortunately, we were unprepared for the surge in requests and lacked the necessary equipment to process the ballots quickly.”

Voters who have not received their ballots can still vote in person on Friday, the final day of Advance Voting, or at their polling place on Election Day, Nov. 5. More than 1,000 absentee ballots are being sent out of state, and Elections officials are working with UPS to expedite their delivery.

Cobb Elections had contracted with a state-approved vendor to print and ship absentee ballots.

“After our vendor’s final run on Friday, we needed to utilize our in-house equipment for the final shipment of ballots, but the equipment was not working properly,” said Elections Director Tate Fall. “By the time we got the equipment online, the deadline for mailing the ballots had passed, prompting us to work with the US Postal Service and UPS to take extraordinary measures. Our team has been working around the clock to get the ballots out.”

Absentee ballot requests had been averaging around 440 per day, but in the last week, that number surged to 750 per day, with 985 requests submitted on Friday’s deadline.

Cobb Elections will extend the hours for absentee ballot returns at the Elections Headquarters this weekend. Voters can return their ballots to 995 Roswell Street, Marietta, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday.

Anyone with questions about their absentee ballot request can contact the Cobb Elections Department at 770-528-2581.