U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross was right when she sent a message that all votes should be counted. 

Her recent ruling essentially says if a mail-in ballot is postmarked by Election Day then it must be included in the tally. 

Previously, election officials rejected ballots that were not received by Election Day, which could mean that the postal service, not the voters could determine the outcome of a close election. 

Elections in Georgia, and the nation for that matter, were changing long before COVID-19, with more and more voters choosing to vote early or take advantage of mail-in voting. 

The pandemic has greatly accelerated the pace of change and for good reason. 

The New Georgia Project advocacy group had petitioned the court to recognize the postmarked date as the deadline for the purpose of making sure that all legally registered voters who voted would have their votes counted. 

If you think about it, recognizing the postmarked date as the actual deadline, rather than the postal service delivery date, is exactly what the IRS does when it comes to filing federal income taxes. 

It just makes sense. 

Does it mean it is possible the results will not be known in all races by the end of Election Day?

Yes, it does mean that. 

And that is not such a bad thing. The important thing in an election is accurate results not speed. 

In fact, not knowing the results of a close race by midnight on Election Day is not uncommon, at all. 

There are all kinds of voter suppression and sending a message all votes will not be counted or that whether or not your vote will be counted is solely dependent on the postal service is a sure fire way to discourage voters. 

Telling potential voters, who are legally registered to vote, they must put themselves in harm’s way by voting in-person in the middle of a public health crisis is also a good way to suppress the vote. 

In the June 9 primary, nearly half of the votes cast in Georgia were by absentee or mail-in ballots, but local elections offices statewide rejected more than 8,000 ballots that arrived after the 7 p.m. primary election deadline.

Far more voters will cast ballots in the general election, and an even larger percentage is expected to vote by mail. 

Judge Ross rightly said voters must be protected and able to exercise their right to vote without fear.

The Secretary of State’s office is also right when it says the change will stress elections offices across the state but that may very well be the price of safeguarding democracy and helping to ensure that every vote counts. 

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has unveiled a new online portal where Georgia voters can request their absentee ballots before November. With a valid Georgia driver’s license or state ID, Georgians can request an absentee ballot entirely online. Raffensperger should be highly commended for that move. 

He struck the right tone when he said, “We are encouraging Georgia voters who are particularly vulnerable to the COVID-19 threat to use our new online absentee ballot request portal to request absentee ballots safely and securely from their computers or phone. This new tool will help counties stay on top of the several million absentee ballot requests expected in November.”

Elections are complicated and very hard business, and the most important thing is not making the counting of the votes as easy and quick as possible but making sure every votes counts — including the mailed ones. 

CNHI Deputy National Editor Jim Zachary is the editor of The Valdosta Daily Times and The Tifton Gazette and president of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation.