how to find out if my absentee ballot was received

Voting during a contentious presidential election and a pandemic is more than a little overwhelming. Like many Americans, yous may have designed a program to vote by absentee ballot months ago, when three November felt a lifetime abroad, and no one knew how ballot day would wait. Mayhap you lot were unsure of where you would be, geographically speaking, and voting past mail service felt like the safest selection. If you're like me, when the time came to request your absentee election, you submitted your data and waited for the ballot to go far in the mail service, just it never did.

I requested my absentee ballot for New York on 14 September. Two weeks later on, the condition on my ballot tracker read "out for delivery" just no ballot e'er arrived. One of my roommates requested her Pennsylvania absentee ballot on 5 October and it has reportedly been on the manner since xix Oct. Last week, the Queer Eye star and Texas resident Jonathan Van Ness shared on Instagram that his absentee ballot was marked out for commitment weeks before but never arrived, and the election board couldn't locate information technology.

Why hasn't my absentee ballot arrived if I requested it before the deadline?

Every bit states grapple with the challenges of voting during a pandemic, people across the country may find themselves without an absentee ballot days earlier the election for a multitude of reasons. An absentee ballot asking course "may be marked invalid if it's not completed according to the specific instructions or if it was submitted by the postmarked date, but not received past the deadline", says Carolyn DeWitt, president and executive director of Stone the Vote. To make matters worse, "if a voter submitted an absentee request that was deemed invalid, they may not receive notification, in which instance a voter may be waiting for a ballot that will never make it".

Another one of my roommates believed she had properly requested her California absentee election online, merely to learn that she needed to physically submit an absentee ballot request to her local board of elections likewise. Meanwhile, the US Postal Service has been struggling to meet the demands of increased absentee ballots amongst delayed services this year.

Did states take plenty resources and time to ready up voting past mail?

In brusque, the answer is no. While five states have conducted elections by post for years, including Oregon and Colorado, the rest were forced to adapt in a matter of months. "It takes most states several years to transition to a vote-past-mail state, simply the pressures and restrictions of Covid-19 accept put significant pressure on election officials while the federal government has failed to provide acceptable resources," says DeWitt. "At that place are logistical hurdles – from the purchasing, press and mailing of millions of absentee request forms and absentee ballots to the processing and counting of absentee ballots."

Congress has granted $400m in election aid to states merely the Brennan Centre for Justice estimated $4bn would exist needed to create "free, off-white, safe, and secure" elections across the state. Donald Trump has also admitted to restricting funds for the USPS in hopes of curbing mail-in voting. With the entity responsible for delivering absentee ballots under-resourced, ballots may remain in processing or lost through election mean solar day.

What is the best style to rail my absentee ballot'southward condition?

If you requested an absentee election but have yet to receive it, you can track information technology online or past calling and emailing your local ballot official, says Ben Hovland, chairman of the US Election Assistance Committee. It may be possible to visit your local election role and speak with a representative, depending on your jurisdiction.

How practice I vote if my absentee election is lost?

In the case that your election isn't located, you accept a few options. Beginning, cheque if an absentee ballot can exist picked up from your local election office. If so, you or a trusted person may exist able to grab and drop it off in a election dropbox or at your local election office apace.

The more than obvious option – voting in person – is also an option merely comes with a few hoops to spring through. "Most states will require the voter to complete a standard affidavit or some other course of documentation confirming that they never received the ballot. So, the voter will be allowed to vote in-person," says DeWitt. These affidavits are available at polling places and would be submitted with your in-person vote. "In some cases, voters may take to consummate a provisional ballot that will be counted one time it'due south been verified that the voter did not already vote." This is the instance in states such equally New Jersey, Alabama, Texas and California.

Provisional ballots are a safeguard to ensure people only vote once, explains Hovland. They are theoretically counted every bit long as y'all don't submit a completed absentee election, but in that location's no guarantee. The 2018 Election Assistants and Voting survey reported that about 38% of provisional ballots were rejected in the 2018 election. Reasons for this included a voter not being registered in that jurisdiction, having the incorrect ID, and having already voted. Canceling your absentee ballot before voting, equally Van Ness reported doing, may allow you to vote in person.

If your only option is voting in person, but the thought of doing so during a pandemic is frightening, there are a few precautions you tin take, says Hovland. If possible, avoid peak voting times before and later on work, as well as lunchtime. Cheque to see if early on voting is happening in your district, and continue in mind that the polling location may be different than your voting place on election 24-hour interval. Some jurisdictions likewise provide voters with the ability to check wait times in advance of leaving to vote.

A graphic with contact information for voters experiencing voting problems

What if my absentee ballot comes at the concluding minute?

While the USPS advises against mailing your ballot afterward than a week earlier the election, if your election shows upwards between now and election day, you can still use it. Some states, such as Michigan and New York, allow you to drop it off in person or invalidate it at the polling station and cast your vote at that place. In certain places, such equally Florida, voters may exist able to have their ballots delivered past someone else, says DeWitt. Some jurisdictions may provide election pick-up for disabled voters.

To find out more about your state's rules and practices for absentee ballots, visit the below resources: