Georgia primary election moved to summer due to coronavirus. What you need to know

Georgia’s primary election, originally slated for May 19, has been pushed to June 9.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that Gov. Brian Kemp’s extended state of emergency and shelter in place order impacted early voting. Macon-Bibb County’s mayoral and county commissioner elections have also moved to June 9.

“Due to the Governor’s extension of the state of emergency through a time period that includes almost every day of in-person voting for an election on May 19, and after careful consideration, I am now comfortable exercising the authority vested in me by Georgia law to postpone the primary election until June 9,” Raffensperger said.

The three additional weeks will allow the secretary of state’s office and Georgia counties to train additional poll workers and find supplies to clean equipment and protect poll workers, Raffensperger said.

The voter registration deadline for the June 9 election is now May 11. Early voting will begin on May 18, and the primary runoff will be Aug. 11. Raffensperger said pushing the primary election back any further could impact the November election.

Absentee ballot applications for the upcoming primary election will continue to be accepted and processed by counties even if the application said May 19, according to the release.

Once county election officials properly verify the signature on the application, the voter will be sent an absentee ballot for the primary election now to be held on June 9.

Raffensperger’s office has begun mailing absentee ballot request forms to Georgia’s roughly 7 million registered voters for the June 9 presidential and general primaries, Capitol Beat reported on Friday. Once those forms are completed and returned, state officials will send voters absentee ballots.

Georgia Democrats have criticized the plan, according to Capitol Beat, arguing Raffensperger should simply send out absentee ballots with prepaid postage.

“We just can’t ask voters to choose between their democracy and their health,” Sen. Nikema Williams, who chairs the Democratic Party of Georgia, said in a phone conference Friday. “It is imperative that we do both.”

This story was originally published April 9, 2020 at 10:46 AM with the headline "Georgia primary election moved to summer due to coronavirus. What you need to know."