The Lee County Supervisor of Elections Office has introduced a new service for voters to track their vote-by-mail ballots.
In a news release, the Lee Elections office described BallotTrax as “a secure ballot tracking and notification service that provides voters with a series of updates on the status of their Vote-by-mail Ballot through email, text, and phone alerts during an election.”
“For instance, when we mail your ballot, we will notify you that we have mailed your ballot to you,” said Lee County Election Supervisor Tommy Doyle. “And then when they send it back we will send them a notice that we have received their ballot. And if there’s any irregularities – for instance, if they forgot to sign it or their signature doesn’t match or anything wrong with it, they will be notified.”
The BallotTrax service is already in use to varying degrees in 20 states, including in 28 counties in Florida including Collier, Manatee and Sarasota counties. Doyle said an initial cost for adding BallotTrax service for voters in Lee County comes to around $4,000, but could increase based on how many voters use it.
The system is linked through voter registrations. So, every Lee County voter who requests a vote-by-mail ballot will automatically be signed up for BallotTrax through a phone number or email on file. People who don’t want the service, though, are able to opt out.
Doyle said being able to track one’s ballot in real time offers voters more peace of mind and fosters more confidence in the system. “We probably have over 60% of our voters vote by mail,” said Doyle.
A law (SB 90) signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2021 requires Florida voters to request a vote-by-mail ballot every general election cycle, meaning such requests must be made every two years instead of every four years. “There are still people out there, I think, maybe they’re procrastinating or still haven’t realized it; haven’t read our mailings or haven’t read our website or haven’t seen the news,” said Doyle.
“But in January, we had about 25,000 requests. I think, to date, we’re over probably 110,000. We’re hoping by the general election of November next year we’ll have over 250,000 requests. So, we’ll keep aggressively pushing that to get voters to request.”
Florida’s presidential preference primary on March 19, 2024, will mark the first election under which voters in Lee County will have the BallotTrax service.
Voters in Lee County can learn more about the BallotTrax service, update their voter registration information or request a vote-by-mail ballot www.lee.vote or by calling (239) LEE-VOTE (533-8683).
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