authority to promulgate rules and regulations to ensure uniformity in the practices of county election officials and, “consistent with law,” to aid “the fair, legal, and orderly conduct of primaries and elections.” Id. § 21-2-31(1)–(2). The Board may also publish and distribute to county election officials a compilation of Georgia’s election laws and regulations. Id. § 21-2-31(3). Many of these laws and regulations govern absentee voting.
Any voter in Georgia may vote by absentee ballot. Id. § 21-2-380(b). State law prescribes the procedures by which a voter may request and submit an absentee ballot. Id. §§ 21-2-381; 21-2-384; 21-2-385. The ballot comes with an oath, which the voter must sign and return with his ballot. Id. § 21-2-385(a). State law also prescribes the procedures for how county election officials must certify and count absentee ballots. Id. § 21-2-386(a). It directs the official to “compare the identifying information on the oath with the information on file” and “compare the signature or mark on the oath with the signature or mark” on file. Id. § 21-2-386(a)(1)(B). If everything appears correct, the official certifies the ballot. Id. But if there is a problem, such as a signature that does not match, the official is to “write across the face of the envelope ‘Rejected.’” Id. § 21-2-386(a)(1)(C). The government must then notify the voter of this rejection, and the voter may cure the problem. Id.
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