Absentee Ballot tracking service launched for Georgia voters
Over 1.2 million Georgians have received their absentee ballots
Georgia voters concerned about whether their absentee ballot will actually be counted can now receive texts, emails or phone calls to track the progress of their ballots.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that BallotTrax, a service that allows voters to sign up for alerts when their absentee ballots are issued, received and accepted, was launched on Friday.
The notifications will assure voters that absentee ballots have made their way through the system, according to Gabriel Sterling, voting system implementation manager for the Georgia secretary of state’s office.
“It’s going to give more transparency and information in a timely manner,” Sterling said.
“This is another tool we’re giving voters to be informed and be comfortable with their vote, however they choose to vote.”
According to The Telegraph, over 1.2 million Georgians have received their absentee ballots and thousands more are expected to go the vote-by-mail route due to ongoing concerns about COVID-19.
Steve Olsen, president of BallotTrax said, “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. With BallotTrax they know not only that the ballot has been accepted, but they can watch it flow through the process.”
Read More: Georgia voters at risk of being declared ‘inactive’ to vote
In past elections, voters in the Peach State have had to deal with widespread issues, such as hours-long waits at the polls, broken down voting machines and lack of provisional ballots.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has expressed hope that the new tracking tool will help cut down on those issues come Nov. 3.
Voters can sign up for BallotTrax at georgia.ballottrax.net by entering their name, birth date and ZIP code.
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