As of October 30, voters have cast at least 53.7 million absentee/mail-in ballots according to the New York Times.
Forty-four states and the District of Columbia offer online ballot tracking for all voters. Texas and New York provide online ballot tracking only for military and overseas voters. Four states have no online ballot tracking at the state level. In those states, voters can contact their local elections office to request information on the status of their ballot.
Ballot tracking systems offer different information depending on the state, but many indicate when a ballot is in transit, when it has been received, and when it has been counted.
Some online ballot tracking systems notify voters when there is a problem with their mail ballot, such as a missing signature. Eighteen states are legally required to notify voters of such problems and provide an opportunity to fix them. This notification and correction process is called ballot curing.
Additional reading:
- Absentee/mail-in voting return deadlines, 2020
- Cure period for absentee and mail-in ballots
- Ballotpedia’s 2020 Election Help Desk
- Life cycle of an absentee/mail-in ballot (2020)
- What happens if I vote by mail and want to change my ballot at a later date (2020)
