Received, Not Postmarked
A Georgia absentee ballot has to be in the county's hands by 7 p.m. on Election Day. A postmark buys you nothing.
The single most consequential detail in Georgia's absentee process is one word.
A completed absentee ballot must be received by your county Board of Registrars by 7 p.m. on Election Day. Not postmarked by. Received by.
Some states count a ballot postmarked on Election Day and delivered days later. Georgia does not. A ballot that leaves your hands on November 3 and arrives on November 5 arrives too late, and the postmark does not save it.
Three ways back
By mail. Legal and ordinary, and the one with the timing risk. The Secretary of State's office recommends allowing roughly two weeks for return mail. Two weeks before 7 p.m. on November 3 puts you around October 20.
By drop box. Every county has at least one. In Georgia they are located indoors, inside early voting locations, and are available only during early voting hours. That is a narrower window than most people picture — a drop box is not a mailbox you can visit at midnight.
By hand. You can deliver your own completed ballot to your county Board of Registrars. If you registered as a disabled voter, someone in your household may deliver it for you.
There is one more route worth knowing: if you requested a ballot, still have it, and decide you would rather vote in person, bring it with you and surrender it to the poll manager at your precinct. You then vote a regular ballot.
Sign the envelope
The ballot goes back inside a signed envelope, and the envelope is where mail ballots most often fail. Not the marks on the ballot — the paperwork around it.
Fill it out in daylight, with your ID information at hand, and read it twice before it leaves the house. You can confirm your voted ballot was received on your My Voter Page at mvp.sos.ga.gov, which is worth doing rather than assuming.
The practical version
Request early, return early, and treat October 20 as the honest deadline rather than November 3. The state built in the slack. Using it is free.
Dates and rules here come from the Georgia Secretary of State and georgia.gov. Deadlines can change. Confirm anything you are relying on at mvp.sos.ga.gov or with your county Board of Registrars before you act on it.