Georgia's highest court has ruled that over 3,000 mail-in ballots may not be counted if they are received after Election Day, despite an error by local election officials.

All ballots are taking place in Cobb County, a northern suburb of Atlanta that voted for Joe Biden in 2020 and could be a deciding factor in a state where Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are tied in the polls.

Biden won the state in 2020 with 49.5% of the vote, compared to 49.2% for Trump.

Famously, after the 2020 election, Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and asked him to “find 11,780 votes” that Trump needed to beat Biden in Georgia.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed a lawsuit to protect the rights of Cobb County voters in the 2024 presidential election after officials accidentally delayed the mailing of some mail-in ballots.

Newsweek sought emailed comment Tuesday from the RNC, the ACLU and the Cobb County Election Board.

The plaintiffs filing the case with the ACLU include Naomi Ayota, a 19-year-old attending college in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Harrison “Grant” Simmel, a 20-year-old attending college in Boulder, Colorado; attended, and Gabriel Dickson, a Cobb County resident who requested an absentee ballot because he is legally blind.

“It is incredibly burdensome for him to vote in person,” the ACLU lawsuit says.

The Georgia Supreme Court ruled that all mail-in ballots for Cobb County must be received by the polls closing Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Any ballots received after this point will be held until the case can be fully heard.

The Georgia Supreme Court overruled a Cobb County judge who had extended the deadline to 5 p.m. Friday to make up for the delay in mailing ballots.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Georgia Republican Party had appealed that decision to the Georgia Supreme Court, arguing that the Cobb County judge's departure from election rules was “meritless.”

“Plaintiffs allege a burden on their right to vote, but the Georgia Constitution does not guarantee the right to vote by mail. Voters still have many options to vote, including by voting in person or dropping off their mail-in ballots in person,” their appeal states.

In its first lawsuit, the ACLU complained that “plaintiffs and more than 3,000 other lawfully registered Cobb County voters are on the verge of being disenfranchised in the November 5 election because the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration has not processed their mail-in ballots was able to issue in a timely manner.” . The defendants admit the violation of the law.”

“It is unlikely that all affected voters will even receive their ballots by November 2nd, particularly because hundreds of affected voters are temporarily living out of state or abroad,” it said.