One detail stands out from Thursday’s Mesa County’s stolen ballots story: Some of the affected voters learned there was a problem when they started getting alerts that their ballots were being processed, even though they had never gotten them in the first place.
The system that sent those messages is called BallotTrax and it’s available to every Colorado voter.
Just signing into the website allows you to see where in the process your current ballot is. You can also sign up to get email, text or phone alerts as your ballot goes through each step.
You can register with BallotTrax at any time and the system will immediately start sending updates.
Your county clerk will let you know when they send your ballot out, when your ballot is returned to their office and as it moves through the verification process. The system also lets voters know if there’s a problem, like if the Post Office returned the ballot as undeliverable or your signature was judged not to match the one on file.
If your ballot is rejected, the messages will include information about how to fix the problem.
Once you're signed up for alerts, if you get any updates about your ballot you don't expect -- like it was returned to the clerk without your knowledge -- the first thing to do is call is your county clerk's office, which can look into the situation.
BallotTrax is free, and, although it is administered by a private company, the state bars them from using your information for anything but ballot alerts. The tracking is connected to your envelope, so the system has no record of how you vote, which is anonymous.
Confidential voters — people who have asked to have their personal information hidden in the voting system out of concerns for their security — can’t sign up for BallotTrax because the vendor can’t access their information. The Secretary of State’s office has more answers to some frequently asked questions about BallotTrax here.
