Tens of millions of Americans successfully voted early by mail for Tuesday’s presidential election. But others faced delays that had them booking last minute flights or road-tripping across multiple states to cast their ballots.
Videos across social media sites depict the lengths that some voters say they went to to vote after their absentee ballots were delayed. Last-minute flights were booked, while others said they had to drive hours to make it to the state they were registered to vote in in time to cast a ballot in person.
Many of the videos were made by voters registered in Georgia, a swing state in which the state supreme court overturned a lower court decision to allow absentee ballots to be received through Friday. The lower court granted the extension for more than 3,000 voters in Cobb County who requested an absentee ballot but did not receive it in time.
The Southern Poverty Law Center confirmed to Coins2Day that it has “received multiple reports from voters who were making alternate plans after yesterday’s Georgia Supreme Court ruling.” The Cobb County Communications Department said it has a “good stream of voters come in, but we aren’t asking how they got here!”
Dropping off a ballot on Election Day
“We’re catching planes, trains and driving through the night to get our votes in by any means necessary,” wrote one voter on TikTok.
Another woman said she paid $500 to fly to Atlanta and cast her ballot. “It’s absolutely infuriating to know that thousands of others aren’t able to exercise their right for whatever callous reason,” she said.
But voters aren’t just traveling to Georgia to make sure their ballots are cast. Lexi Harder, 30, told the New York Times she paid more than $1,100 for a round-trip flight from Berlin in order to vote in Montgomery County, Pa. Harder said she traveled 15 hours after her completed absentee ballot was returned to her.
