On Oct. 28, two ballot drop boxes in Oregon and Washington state were set on fire, destroying hundreds of ballots inside.
Following that incident, multiple VERIFY readers texted us to ask how people can confirm their mail-in ballot gets counted.
THE QUESTION
Can you track your mail-in ballot?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
Yes, you can track your mail-in ballot in most states.
WHAT WE FOUND
Almost every state has an online system voters can use to track their mail-in ballots and confirm election officials have received and counted their votes.
Illinois, Missouri and Wyoming are the only three states without a statewide system to track mail-in ballots online, according to the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), a nonprofit think tank.
While Illinois doesn’t have a statewide ballot tracker, Vote America says the City of Chicago, DuPage County, Kane County, Lake County and Will County all have their own online ballot trackers.
Vote America recommends that voters from Missouri and Wyoming contact their local election office if they wish to check the status of their ballot. The U.S. Vote Foundation says that while Missouri offers no ballot tracking, ballot tracking may be offered at the county level in Wyoming.
Voters in New York City and the rest of New York state use two different trackers, Vote America and the U.S. Vote Foundation say. The U.S. Vote Foundation also lists two separate trackers in Texas; one for domestic citizens and the other for citizens overseas or in the military. The rest of the states just have one tracker system each.
Both Vote America and the U.S. Vote Foundation have lists linking out to ballot trackers in every state.
If election officials don’t receive your ballot for any reason, it’s best to contact your local election office. For example, Greg Kimsey, the auditor in Clark County, Washington, is encouraging voters whose ballots were destroyed in the fire to call his office for replacement ballots, the Associated Press reported.
Only some states have ballot trackers for people who cast provisional ballots, which are ballots for voters whose eligibility to vote is uncertain and needs to be checked. Vote America maintains a list linking out to state provisional ballot trackers.
People who cast regular in-person ballots on Election Day do not need to track their ballots because they’re counted right away, Vote America says.