Voting absentee? Georgia voters can now get alerts to track mail-in ballot status
Georgians voting by mail now have a way to keep tabs on their ballot, thanks to a new online tracking tool.
Last week, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced the launch of a new tracking system called BallotTrax that allows voters to sign up to receive email or text message updates on the status of their ballot.
Those who sign up for notifications will get an alert when their absentee ballot is issued, received, accepted or rejected by their local elections office, according to state officials. A staggering number of Georgians — over 1.2 million to this point — have received their absentee ballots, and thousands more are expected to go the vote-by-mail route due to ongoing concerns about COVID-19.
The state began mailing batches of absentee ballots last week, WSB-TV reported.
“Unprecedented times require innovation and adaptation,” Raffensperger said in a statement. “Creating this new absentee ballot tracking and notification system will provide Georgia voters with greater clarity and increased confidence that their votes are accepted. Like the absentee ballot request portal that over 200,000 Georgians have already used, the platform is designed to be quick, easy, and convenient.”
Voters can sign up for the alerts here by entering their first and last name, birth date and ZIP code.
Voters whose mail-in ballots are rejected will be given contact information to fix the issue so they can ensure their vote is counted, according to Raffensperger’s office.
More than 40 states have now launched online tools to help voters ensure their ballot is counted in the upcoming election, according to NBC News. Maine is the latest to unveil a new tracking service allowing residents to keep an eye on their ballot as it passes each stage in the voting process.
Raffensperger’s office said alerts about a voter’s ballot status may not come right away and could be delayed by a day. Still, the new BallotTrax system promises Georgia voters timely updates and “peace of mind” heading into the general election.
“They (voters) don’t trust that their vote is going to be counted if it goes into a black hole and they never hear about it,” BallotTrax president Steve Olsen told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “With BallotTrax, they know not only that the ballot has been accepted, but they can watch it flow through the process.”
The Peach State has seen widespread voting issues in previous elections, from hours-long waits at the polls, down voting machines and lack of provisional ballots. The secretary of state has expressed hope that the new tracking tool will help cut down on those issues come Nov. 3, as Georgia is expected to see record voter turnout, according to Georgia Public Broadcasting.
“We have a very robust plan of action for the November election cycle,” Raffensperger told the outlet last week. “I think we’re much better prepared.”
This story was originally published September 29, 2020 at 5:59 PM with the headline "Voting absentee? Georgia voters can now get alerts to track mail-in ballot status."