Whether you're waiting to receive your mail-in ballot or wondering what happened after it was signed, sealed and delivered, a tool available to all California voters can help you track its location.
All of California's 22 million registered voters can sign up for the state’s ballot tracking service. BallotTrax will send users automated notifications about the location of vote-by-mail ballots from the time it's on the way to a residence to the time it's accounted for at the county elections office.
Los Angeles County began mailing out ballots for the Nov. 8 election during the week of Oct. 3. Ballots will continue to be mailed through Oct. 10.
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Here's what to know about the BallotTrax tool.
How to Sign Up
- Click here to sign up and track your ballot.
- Register with your name, date of birth, and ZIP code.
- You’ll need to provide a notification method — email, text, or phone and in what language.
- You can limit notifications to specific times of day.
What You’ll Receive
- You’ll receive alerts from the county elections office about your ballot's location.
- Alerts are sent when the office mails the ballot, receives the ballot from the voter and counts the ballot.
- Voters also will get an alert if there’s a problem with the ballot.
- Important updates and election deadline information.
The tracker was rolled out after a 2018 bill that require the California Secretary of State to provide a tracking service to county elections offices. It was expanded statewide after Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order requiring vote-by-mail ballots be sent to all California voters to avoid large gatherings at polling places during the coronavirus pandemic.
Nevada, Utah, Colorado, North Carolina and George also offer BallotTrax statewide. Other states, like Oregon, Arizona and Florida, use the service in some counties.
County elections offices in California begin mailing ballots a few weeks ahead of the Nov. 8 General Election. The ballots can be mailed in, dropped off at early voting sites and drop-off locations, or returned to a vote center on Election Day.
Remember to sign the ballot and the envelope provided by your county elections office before returning. A ballot postmarked on or before Election Day is allowed to be counted.
If your ballot arrives 17 days after the election, but you cast it no later than Election Day, your vote still counts.
