Mail truck potentially carrying absentee ballots 'burned to a crisp' in south Georgia, officials say

BAKER COUNTY, Ga. - A mail truck potentially carrying absentee ballots in south Georgia caught fire on Monday.

Photos shared by the Baker County Sheriff’s Office shows the Jeep fully engulfed in flames along a rural roadway about ten miles southwest of Albany. 

The mail carrier was not injured.

Deputies say the Newton Post Office has a list of packages and mail that was being delivered along the route.

The fire caught the attention of the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office which addressed the issue during a press conference on Tuesday.

"A USPS truck, according to the election’s director down there, burned to a crisp. So, we've already had discussions with them," said Interim Deputy Secretary of State Gabriel Sterling. "There are 43 outstanding ballots in the county. We're working with USPS to see if they have images of what might have been on that truck, to reissue them. Worst comes to worst, we'll reissue the 43 ballots, or the county will reissue the 43 ballots, and first across the line for those voters will be the ballots that are accepted."

Sterling says this is just one example of the type of thing state election officials deal with during an election cycle.

Interim Deputy Secretary of State Gabriel Sterling said as of Tuesday evening, more than a million votes had been cast in the Midterm Election. On Tuesday alone, 100,000 absentee ballots were received and another 124,000 Georgians voted in person during the early voting period, continuing a record.

Baker County is about 150 miles south of Atlanta.