FULTON COUNTY, GA (CBS ATLANTA) -
The Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections will hold a special-called meeting Friday morning as the deadline looms to count 11,000 provisional ballots.
Brian Kemp, Georgia Secretary of State, said that Fulton County has more provisional ballots out than the entire state of Georgia.
"Anytime you have an election where somebody doesn't get to vote and they should have been able to, that's catastrophic in my opinion," Kemp told CBS Atlanta News.
On Tuesday, scores of voters were forced to cast provisional ballots because election officials had no record of them being registered.
"What is being described as a debacle for Fulton County, we categorically deny that categorization," said Sharon Mitchell, Interim Elections Director for Fulton County. "While we admit we had some challenges as it relates so some of our poll workers' actions on election day, we believe that is something we can look at in the future to improve those processes."
Mitchell said the county will meet Friday night's deadline to count the ballots.
"It's time for them to step up, get the resources that they need and move the process in the right way and get it done," said Kemp.
Some Fulton County commissioners are also concerned about the problems voters encountered during Tuesday's election.
"You're going to have to make some sort of changes," said Commission Chairman John Eaves. "You can't keep everything in place and expect a different result."
Eaves said the commission believed it gave elections officials all the resources they needed to run a smooth election, including a consultant to oversee the process.
Election Protection spokesman Harold Franklin, an attorney, said he is also concerned about the provisional vote count.
"How did this happen and how to we sure it does not happen again?" asked Franklin.
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