DeKalb County elections officials: Proactive absentee ballot plan increased voter access

DeKalb County officials are attributing an aggressive absentee ballot campaign for increasing voter participation in DeKalb.

From the very beginning of the 2020 election cycle, DeKalb County has been committed to providing every citizen equal access to the ballot box by mailing both active and inactive voters absentee ballot applications, officials said in a statement.

Out of 500,000 absentee ballot applications mailed, 174,720 voters applied and received absentee ballots. As of the submission deadline, 128,392 mail-in absentee ballot were returned and verified, according to the statement.

This number represents almost 25 percent of the DeKalb electorate, up from 4 percent that returned absentee ballots in both 2016 and 2018.