How can I track my Utah ballot? – Deseret News

Been watching the mailbox, waiting for your Nov. 5 general election ballot to arrive? Want to track what happens once you turn it in?

Utahns can sign up online at trackmyballot.utah.gov to receive text alerts about their ballots throughout the election process.

The notifications, available statewide since 2022, start coming as soon as ballots are mailed out. Voters are also alerted when their completed ballots are back in the hands of election officials, as well as when they've been counted. Any issues with a returned ballot will also trigger a text.

"It's a pretty cool system and it's free for voters," Salt Lake County Clerk Lannie Chapman said.

The clerk's office just mailed out more than 600,000 multipage ballots Tuesday to county residents. Voters have been calling her office "for a couple of weeks now," looking for their ballots, she said, but unlike in some states, they don't go out in Utah until 21 days before an election. This year, clerks have until Oct. 29 to send ballots to voters.

Chapman said her husband's ballot has already been delivered, but a check of another app, the U.S. Postal Service's "informed delivery" service that previews that day's mail delivery, showed hers was coming Thursday. She said Salt Lake County voters who haven't received their ballots by Saturday should call the clerk's office.

Being able to track ballots gives voters a sense of having more control, Chapman said, and may boost their confidence in the election process.

"I sure hope so. It'll show them what's going on and it will give them real-time information, which is amazing. They don't have to reach out to me. It just automatically appears in their texts on their phone," she said, adding, "We're really trying hard to make sure people feel confident in their ability to cast their ballot."

Utah's elections are largely conducted by mail. Ballots can be returned via mail as long as they are postmarked the Monday before an election, or deposited in a drop box until polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Day. Drop box locations throughout Utah can be found through the state's vote.utah.gov site, which also links voters to the ballot tracking sign-up.

Getting ballots back early helps ensure they'll be included in the vote totals that are released as soon as the polls close on Nov. 5.

"I encourage people, as soon as they know how they would like to vote on the candidates, the judicial retention and, of course, the questions that are on their ballot, to make sure that they've signed that affidavit on the back of their envelope and return it so we can make sure their vote is part of that election night result," Chapman said.

"The quicker that they can get it to us, the quicker we can verify their signature, process their ballot and make sure they're included in those election night results," she said. "But again, I want to make sure people do the research and figure out how they'd like to vote first. I'm not trying to rush people."