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Absentee-by-mail voters in North Carolina will be able to track the status of their ballots for the May 17 statewide primary election. The State Board of Elections is again offering a service called BallotTrax, which was first available in the 2020 general election.

Using this service, by-mail voters can track their absentee ballot throughout the voting process, from when it’s sent by the county board of elections to when the completed ballot is received by election officials. Sign up at BallotTrax: North Carolina.

It’s a popular and easy-to-use service. More than 400,000 N.C. voters signed up for BallotTrax in 2020.

BallotTrax sends a series of alerts to the voter as the ballot moves through the process.

“By tracking their ballot, voters can have peace of mind that their ballot was received by their county board of elections,” said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections. “This is one of the many ways North Carolina elections officials are helping voters ensure that their vote counts.”

Registered voters who wish to vote by mail and track their ballot may create a BallotTrax account. (Note: Voters who do not vote by mail will not use BallotTrax, since in-person voters submit their ballots directly into ballot tabulation machines to be counted.)

With an account, voters will be able to:

·      Log in to view the status of their absentee by-mail request and ballot. This includes confirmation that the county board of elections has received the request, that the ballot has been mailed to the voter, and that the completed ballot has been received by the county board of elections.

·      Learn if their ballot cannot be accepted because of issues such as a missing signature or witness information. If this occurs, the county board of elections will provide information to the voter on how to correct the issue.

·      Sign up for email, text, and/or voice alerts for status updates.

Any voters who signed up for BallotTrax in 2020 or 2021 should still be in the system and will not have to sign up again unless the voter moved to a different county.3