Virginia’s new ballot tracking system is having some problems.
Voters have complained about a range of issues, including never receiving their ballot in the mail.
The Virginia Department of Elections Commissioner Christopher Piper admits there have been some gaps.
This year, all voter registration offices were required to put what’s called an intelligent bar code on the envelope of each absentee ballot. The U.S. Postal Service is then tasked with scanning the code so voters can track their ballot through an online program called Ballot Scout.
Ballot Scout told 8News the scan rate number in Virginia is currently at about 93.2%. That figure is compared to 99% in other jurisdictions nationally.
“Unfortunately, we have seen some issues with scanning not occurring at the processing facility at postal service,” Piper says. “We are working through these issues with the postal office.”
The tool Virginia relies entirely on that postal service scan.
Piper says if Ballot Scout is not working for a voter, they can visit the Department of Elections citizen portal and click on “check registration status.”
There, voters can check their ballot history to see if it has been received or not.
I have heard it referred to as the Cracker Tracker.