Colorado Allows Voters to Track Mail-In Ballots Through Tracking App

By Mary Anne R. First Posted: Sep 16, 2020 12:22 AM EDT

Colorado mail-in ballots — Photo : Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images

Colorado voters will have an option to track their mail-in ballots for the upcoming November elections.

State Secretary of State Jena Griswold announced on Monday that voters could receive updates on their ballots' status through notifications to their phone, email, or text.

This includes when the ballot packets go out, when it is received back, and when it is accepted for counting.

This is one of the "many ways that Colorado continually innovates to ensure our elections are the best in the nation," according to Griswold.

To avail of this service, voters should use the BallotTrax ballot tracking and messaging system. Twelve Colorado counties have used the system for the past elections.

Griswold said that the City and County of Denver have developed and will continue to operate a separate but the same system.

Other Colorado counties' voters that recently added ballot tracking would receive a notification that they have enrolled in the service if their registration record includes their email address

This will start on Monday.

For those that do not automatically enroll, they can do so by signing up here.

Denver first launched the state's first ballot notification system in 2009. Since then, twelve other counties have used similar methods.

The said twelve counties are already using the software that will now be expanded statewide, while Denver stays on its Ballot Trace system.

Real-time ballot tracking could boost people's trust in mail-in ballots as the said process is under scrutiny.

U.S. President Donald Trump has criticized voting through mail-in ballots and deeming it as insecure.

However, experts say that that has not been true in mail-in voting states like Colorado.

On the other hand, Democrats have said that mail slowdowns could affect ballot delivery in the country.

Amber McReynolds, the county's former elections director and current CEO of the National Vote At Home Institute, said that the ballot tracking system had boosted voter turnout in Denver.

McReynolds added that people who used ballot tracking tend to vote at slightly higher rates.

That could be because Denver used its system to send reminders to voters who had not yet turned in a ballot.

"It becomes this whole communication engine that is good for voters," McReynolds was quoted in a report.

The state government paid $70,000 of federal grant money for the cost of the expansion. The state will cover the cost of the program in the future too.

The Denver-based company i3Logix operates BallitTrax.

Meanwhile, U.S. Postal Service is facing a legal battle against Griswold after the postal service sent a mail urging voters to plan if they intend to vote by mail in November.

Griswold's office made the legal move to stop the Postal Service from delivering mailers in the state as they contain information that is not accurate for the state's mail-in ballot voting system.

"The notice will sow confusion amongst voters by delivering a contradictory message," U.S. District Court Judge William J. Martinez was quoted in the temporary restraining order he issued.