Gwinnett Daily Post

LAWRENCEVILLE - Officials say they are trying to work out problems with people receiving absentee ballots.

County spokesman Joe Sorenson said he did not know how widespread the problem was, but people have complained that their ballots haven't arrived more than a week after officials reprinted the ballots because they could not be read by optical scanners.

"We're trying to see how it works out in the next few days," Sorenson said.

The county has mailed out 29,933 absentee ballots, through Thursday, including the 19,000 that were mailed out before the discovery that the ovals were too thick to be read by the machines.

The flawed ballots will count, after elections workers transfer the votes to a corrected form, a process which will take up to 10 hours on Election Day.

The county elections office at 455 Grayson Highway in Lawrenceville will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today to accept absentee ballots.

People must turn in the ballot by 7 p.m. Tuesday, or they can forfeit the ballot at their polling place to vote in person Election Day.