In DC, where voting by mail dominates, you can track your ballot in real time 

With Election Day looming, DC is gearing up to make sure the city’s voting processes go smoothly. 

There’s a lot on the ballot at the local level this round, outside of the highly anticipated presidential election. Several DC Council races are at stake, including those for the open seat in Ward 7 and a write-in campaign for Ward 8 incumbent Trayon White’s seat following his indictment on a federal bribery charge in September. Initiative 83, which would switch the voting process from closed to semi-open primaries and implement ranked choice voting in DC, is also on the docket. 

As residents make decisions about their local leaders and voting protocol, many are turning to voting by mail. The city started sending mail ballots to every registered voter in DC in 2020 as a precautionary measure during the height of the pandemic. That November, mail-in ballots dramatically increased in the city, DCist reported at the time. Double the residents voted by mail rather than in person. 

Given this uptick, the DC Board of Elections is now using the platform BallotTrax, created by an eponymous mail ballot software company headquartered in Denver. It’ll allow voters to track their ballot in real-time when they drop off at a mailbox, per Sarah Graham, a spokesperson for the DC Board of Elections. 

“Voters can see when their ballot is mailed, received, accepted or rejected, which helps build trust in the process and prevents fraud,” Graham wrote in an email to Technical.ly. 

BallotTrax is used in states and counties across the US, including in some jurisdictions in nearby Maryland and Virginia, according to its website. 

It’s important to note that elected officials throughout the country are encouraging voters to drop ballots off before the deadline because of the expected influx of election mail, NPR reported.  

DC is also taking into account the physical security of voters, per Graham. There are 55 ballot drop boxes throughout the city, providing an option beyond putting a mail-in ballot into a USPS mailbox. Those boxes are placed in high-traffic areas, like in front of public libraries and community centers, so people can feel more secure, she said. 

For residents voting in person, DC uses both electronic voting machines and paper ballots, depending on the location, Graham added. If Nov. 5 doesn’t work for an individual, there’s also early voting; that begins on Oct. 28 in DC and runs through Nov. 3. 

The city is additionally introducing some new technology this year. To count votes, Graham said DC started using the new DS950 tabulation machine, which scans and sorts ballots, during the primaries in June.

Like many other jurisdictions, DC works with local law enforcement when transporting paper ballots and electronic voting results to counting locations throughout the city. On election day, those materials are moved via a Metropolitan Police Department escort, Graham said. 

DC’s proximity to the federal government means more opportunities for teamwork, too. The Board of Elections collaborates with federal entities, including the Department of Homeland Security and the Election Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center. The Board of Elections also works closely with the Office of the Chief Technology Officer in DC in preparing for a possible breach or cyber attack, Graham said.