Colorado To Implement Ballot Tracking Statewide for November’s Election
On Monday, Sept. 24, 2020, Colorado Secretary of State issued the following news release:
DENVER, Colo- Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold today announced that for the first time, voters in all 64 counties will be able to track the status of their individual mail ballots for the 2020 General Election. Voters will be able to receive notifications by phone, email, or text about the status of their mail ballots, from the time their County Clerk and Recorder mails the outgoing ballot packet, to when their voted ballot is received and accepted for counting.
“I’m happy to announce that for the first time, every Colorado voter will have access to ballot tracking, to be able to see when ballots are sent to when they are processed,” said Secretary Griswold. “This new program is one of the many ways that Colorado continually innovates to ensure our elections are the best in the nation.”
The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office is offering the BallotTrax ballot tracking and messaging system to all counties. Twelve counties implemented this system in past elections, and voters in those counties will not notice any changes to the content, format or timing of the ballot status messages they receive. The City and County of Denver developed and will continue to operate a separate but similar system. The effect of the Secretary of State’s initiative makes the BallotTrax system available to voters in the 51 counties that never before had access to ballot tracking.
Beginning today, voters in counties that are adding ballot tracking will receive a notification that they have been enrolled in the service if their registration record contains an email address. Those who don’t receive an auto-enrollment notification can sign up themselves at https://colorado.ballottrax.net. Voters can opt out of BallotTrax at any time. Voters in counties with preexisting ballot tracking capabilities, including Denver’s BallotTrace, will not need to re-enroll and will be able to continue to have their ballots tracked without interruption.
“The ability for voters to get text, email, or phone messages with our ballot tracking service has been in place since it was first introduced in 2015 and has only grown in popularity with each passing year,” said Boulder County Clerk and Recorder Molly Fitzpatrick. “It provides a measure of reassurance to voters that their ballots have arrived back to our offices safely and securely and are now ready to be counted.” For more information, please visit www.GoVoteColorado.gov.