Nov. 5, 2024, is Election Day, but many people in the United States have already voted. Whether they received an absentee ballot or live in a state where mail-in voting is legal, thousands upon thousands of ballots had already been returned and processed before polls even opened on Election Day.
Mail-in voting makes voting convenient, easily accessible, and comfortable, since you can do it from your own home. Mail-in voting became popular in the 2020 election, largely because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though the rates of people who voted by mail dipped in 2022, this year will show us whether the trend will continue for presidential elections in the current post-pandemic era.
Voting by mail can be stressful, though, if you aren’t sure how to find out whether that your ballot was actually received. It’s rare for slip-ups to happen, but the U.S. Postal System isn’t perfect, so there can be a small chance that some votes get delayed or lost in the shuffle. Luckily, there are easy ways to quickly double-check whether your ballot was counted.
Vote.org has a convenient tool for you to track your ballot on right its website. All you have to do is select your state and follow the link to enter your information and track where your ballot is and whether it’s been processed. The website also tells you the election hotline to call in your state if there are any issues with your ballot, and a link to your local election office’s website.
It’s also important to keep in mind that while some states have already begun counting mail-in ballots, some have not. This means we may not know the results of the presidential election for a few days, like in 2020. If you voted by mail, rest assured that poll workers are going to ensure that the vote count is accurate and we know the results as soon as possible.