ORLANDO, Fla. – Mail-in ballots have long been a convenient alternative voting option but with the coronavirus pandemic still in full swing this election season, more voters than ever before may opt to cast their ballots via mail in an effort to avoid spreading or contracting COVID-19.
Some voters, however, have expressed concerns about mail-in-ballots, with worries that theirs could get lost in the mail or not end up in the right hands in order for their vote to be counted.
[2020 VOTER GUIDE: Everything you need to know ahead of the presidential election | Things to know about voting in Central Florida during the coronavirus pandemic]
If you’re concerned about where your ballot will end up once it leaves your hands and enters your mailbox, you might be looking for ways to keep tabs on it. And Central Florida voters have that option.
If you’re voting by mail this year, you can click the link below provided by your county’s supervisor of elections office then enter your information to check the status of your mail-in-ballot.
Check the status of your mail-in ballot with the following links:
Both Marion and Seminole Counties will utilize BallotTrax, a software that allows voters to locate their mail-in ballot every step of the way, similar to tracking a package in the mail.
“We’re giving our voters the option to opt to receive a notice either via email or text, when we print the ballot, when it arrives at the post office from my office, when you personally get it at home and it gets back to us, you’ll receive another push notification,” said Marion County Supervisor of Elections Wesley Wilcox.
On Sept. 24, Wilcox told News 6 his office had already received 80,000 vote-by-mail requests.
“We’re tracking probably in the range of 35 million ballots this season,” BallotTrax President Steve Olsen said. “There’s a lot of people who don’t believe in vote-by-mail and there’s a lot of disinformation about it and our system can pretty much combat all that disinformation if they sign up and use it.”
Wilcox points out that the new software allows his office to better communicate with voters should any issues arise.
“In August, when we had 38,000 returned [ballots], I had about 200 voters who failed to signed their vote-by-mail ballot,” Wilcox said. “If those voters had the service and opted in, we would have mailed them something like we did, but we would have texted them and emailed them if they signed up for that as well. It gives us another layer, not only from our side but also the voter side.”
If you’d like to get a closer look at who and what you can expect to see on your ballot this year, visit ClickOrlando.com’s 2020 election voter guide.