Every active voter in Nevada will receive a mail ballot for the 2020 general election. Voters also can decide to vote in-person, either early or on election day. For those who decide to fill out their ballots and send them through the mail, the also have the option to track their ballots.
"With so many first time mail voters and so many voters anticipated to vote by mail, it was an important service to provide to voters," Wayne Thorley, Deputy Secretary of State for Elections said. "It lets the voter know that their ballot wasn't lost in the mail or something. Once the ballot is actually counted, it will let the over know that it was counted too."
The partnership between the Elections Division and BallotTrax allows Nevada voters to sign up online for free. All they have to do is follow this link. Signing up only requires the voter's first and last name, date of birth and zip code. Then the voter chooses how to receive alerts. The options are text, email or voicemail. They can choose all of them if they want.
"It only takes a few minutes," Thorley said. "You can log back in any time and manage your preferences but all you need to do is register once and you'll start receiving alerts."
Many people have already used a similar tracking system through online shopping.
"Online shoppers are already accustomed to tracking their packages from the retail outlet all the way to their doorstep and so this provides that same service but for a ballot," Thorley said.
undefined
Mail ballots require a signature for verification. If the signature does not match or if it is missing, an election official will contact the voter. Despite speculation that voter fraud will spike as a result of mail ballots, Thorley says there is no evidence that voter fraud will be an issue during the election.
"Voting by mail is safe and secure in Nevada," Thorley said. "If that's how a voter wants to vote, they should feel confident that their ballot will be counted as cast."
Chances are, most voters know if they will vote in-person or through the mail. Some say that having the option to track their ballot does offer peace of mind but that it does not change whether they how they will cast their ballot.
"Before they mail them in, they don't know whether they get them because the mail sometimes doesn't actually get there," Ray Stroup, Sparks resident said. "So this way, you track it and you know it's going to be there for sure. Yeah, I think it's a good idea."
"It's probably a good thing, yeah," Esther Nielsen, Reno resident said. "But like I said, I intend to vote on election day, in-person, to make sure my ballot goes where it's supposed to."
Thorley says Nevada has more options than ever to vote and to register to vote. He says the Secretary of State's Office does not prefer one method over the other.
"With voting by mail, early voting and election day, voters have lots of choices and it really is up to the voter how they want to vote," Thorley said.
Many voters will receive their ballots before the weekend. Churchill, Douglas, Elko, Esmeralda, Lincoln and Washoe Counties will begin mailing ballots, Thursday. Eureka, Lander, Lyon, Mineral, Nye, Pershing and Storey Counties will mail theirs October 5.
"They can absolutely start voting right away," Thorley said. "They don't need to wait. If they know who they want to vote for, they can vote right away."
Clark will mail its ballots on October 7, White Pine on October 8, Humboldt on October 12 and Carson City on October 14.
Thorley says the Secretary of State's office gets 2,500-3,000 phone calls per week. The most common question is when they will receive their ballots. Other common questions are where their polling location is and if they can vote in-person. Voters can find the answers to those questions at https://www.nvsos.gov/sos. Sample ballots will also have the designated polling location but most will have the ability to vote at any polling place within their county. People will be able to vote in-person from October 17 to October 30. They can also wait until election day, November 3.
Â
Â
