Ballot Scout FAQ

Ballot Scout is an application that tracks domestic ballots sent through the mail using United States Postal Service (USPS) Intelligent Mail barcodes, as well as data from election administrators. Ballot Scout was created by Democracy Works, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization, and partners with local election offices. It is currently licensed and operated by Enhanced Voting.

Please enter your first name, last name, and the address you requested your ballot be mailed to, and click “Track Your Ballot”. The name and address you enter should contain the exact details you used when you registered to vote.

If it is available in your jurisdiction, you may also be able to sign up for notifications.To sign up, search for your ballot, then enter your email and/or phone number in the notifications section. You can also turn notifications off and on in this section at any time. Your contact information will be stored securely and never used for any purposes other than notifications related to the status of your ballot materials.

After you sign up, Ballot Scout will send a text and/or email whenever your ballot moves to a new status. When you sign up, if your ballot has already started traveling, you will not receive notifications for any of the previous statuses.

To stop receiving text notifications reply “STOP” at any time to any of the messages.

To stop receiving email notifications, click the link at the end of any of your email messages that reads, “To unsubscribe click here”.

To stop or change how you receive messages, go to the tool, search for your ballot, and turn on or off each type of notification. You should receive a confirmation of your change.

The name you enter must match exactly the name you used when you registered to vote. If your name is misspelled in your voter registration, it will be misspelled in Ballot Scout. If for example you registered as “Rob” and not “Robert”, you will need to use the nickname/abbreviation of your name to search for your ballot. Additionally, the address you enter must match the mailing address as it appears in your voter registration/on your ballot envelope. If you are certain you’ve typed your name and address correctly but continue to receive an error, please contact your local election office to look up the status of your ballot.

Currently, there is no easily accessible way to track mail through the military post using basic USPS domestic Intelligent Mail barcodes. We can track through the USPS, but as soon as the ballot enters the military postal system, the ballot becomes invisible to us. We can provide partial tracking data to applicable election administrators if they request it but we have erred on the side of not providing it to voters because it is incomplete data. There are projects across the country looking for ways to make this work better and when an effective integrated tracking method is developed, we will most certainly see how we can implement it!

Please see the below definitions for all possible ballot statuses. Note that each ballot may not go through every single status, and that some status features* (Mailed back to office, In transit to office, Received, Accepted, Not accepted) are only available in select areas.

• Being Prepared - Your ballot has not entered the mail yet but is being prepared by your local election office. This status is always updated by election offices; it is never associated with USPS data.

• Mailed to You - the USPS has your ballot and it is on the way to your address

• Delivery Scheduled - Your ballot is at your local post office and it has an estimated delivery date. It should arrive at your address on/about that date with your regular mail.

• Returned to Sender -The USPS was unable to deliver your ballot to your address. A new ballot may need to be issued.

• Mailed to Office* - Your completed ballot is traveling back to the election office through the mail

• Received by Office* - Your ballot has been received by the election office. This can mean the USPS delivered your ballot, or the ballot was delivered by hand or drop box, if they are available. For some areas, this will be the final status of your ballot.

• Received by Office - Accepted* - Your ballot has been marked as accepted for counting by an election office. This status is always updated by the election office; it is never associated with USPS data.

• Received by Office - Flagged* - Your ballot may have an issue and you should reach out to your election office. This status is always updated by election offices; it is never associated with USPS data.

Once mailed, your ballot will typically take between 2-5 days to be delivered. Please note, the estimated delivery date is determined based on a piece of USPS scan data that is received when the ballot has been tagged as out for delivery from your local postal facility, not that it has arrived in your mailbox.

You may be in an area where Ballot Scout is only tracking your ballot from your election office to you because the election office was unable to include an Intelligent mail barcode on your return ballot. This does not mean that your ballot is not on its way back to the office, just that we aren’t tracking that process.

This doesn't necessarily mean that your ballot isn't traveling, it could simply be that it hasn't been scanned again by the USPS. Oftentimes certain postal facilities may not have the scanning equipment to continue scanning the ballot or the USPS may be sorting the ballot in a way that does not move the ballot through the relevant scanning machines. If you are unsure if you should have received your ballot by a given date or if the office should have received your ballot, we encourage you to contact your local or state election office.

First, ensure all your mail for the day has arrived. Ballots will arrive with your regular mail delivery, not in a separate delivery like with private package delivery. Next, check that the ballot hasn't arrived in a batch of mail from another day. Sometimes ballot envelopes may be mistaken for junk mail! If your mail for the day has arrived and you haven't located the envelope, call your local election office at the number provided. It could be that the USPS either delivered your ballot to the wrong address or that it was undeliverable and you may need to be issued a new ballot.

For security reasons, we support the current major release of each browser and one previous version. If you are experiencing difficulties using Ballot Scout, try updating your browser to the current version.

We take great care to ensure voter information remains private. We do not sell user information, nor do we distribute any personal data for any purpose other than providing you with the information and services you have requested. To learn more about our security practices, please visit our privacy policy page and terms of service.