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Voters Can Track the Progress of Their Mail-In Ballot Online

If you are one of the thousands in Macoupin County to be voting absentee by mail this November, you can track the progress of your ballot online with a new program called Ballot Scout. Voters interested in using it can visit www.macoupinvotes.com and click on ‘Track Your Mail Ballot’ in the ‘What’s New’ section.

Created by Democracy Works, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization, the application tracks ballots sent through the mail using USPS Intelligent Mail barcodes. Ballot Scout tracks mail-in ballots sent throughout the United States Post Office and provides transparency for voters and election officials into where mail-in ballots are in the mail stream. Voters can look up their ballot and see it’s progress to them through the mail as well as back to the Election Office after they have voted it. Voters can also sign up to get text or email notifications each time their ballot’s status changes.

“We hope that the new Ballot Scout system will allow voters to track their ballots as we mailed them out to them, and as they send them back to us with some assurance that the process is working the way it ought to be,” Pete Duncan, Macoupin County Clerk said.

Voters will also be able to look up and receive notifications on if their ballot was counted by the election judges or rejected.

This is the first election the program will be used by the county.

If you applied for an absentee ballot you will likely receive your absentee ballot in the mail this week.

Mailed ballots must be postmarked no later than November 3 and received by the registrar’s office not later than 14 days after Election Day

If you don’t wish to return your ballot by USPS, you can either hand-deliver their ballot to the Election office or secure drop box at the Macoupin County Courthouse, or at one of the drive thru drop off site which can be found at www.macoupinvotes.com or on the back of the instruction sheet in every mail ballot packet.