How to track your ballot and what to do if it's been damaged

Election officials successful Vancouver, Washington, are encouraging voters to cheque nan position of their absentee ballots aft an arsonist lit a ballot driblet container connected fire connected Monday morning, damaging hundreds of ballots 1 week earlier Election Day.

While incidents of bad actors targeting ballot driblet boxes are rare, experts told ABC News that nan infrastructure surrounding absentee voting complete nan past decade has allowed predetermination officials to beryllium prepared for specified incidents, done nan usage of 24-hour surveillance, occurrence suppression systems, and precocious ballot search software.

"These are nan types of scenarios that predetermination officials are staying up astatine nighttime reasoning astir and person been reasoning astir for years and arsenic portion of their contingency planning," said Claire Woodall-Vogg, nan erstwhile executive head of nan Milwaukee Election Commission. "While it's very rare, it's thing that your predetermination charismatic has decidedly thought about."

Monday's arson onslaught -- which destroyed hundreds of ballots successful Vancouver, Washington and 3 successful Portland, Oregon -- follows different incidents past week erstwhile ballots successful Florida and Arizona were damaged successful transit. Phoenix officials besides arrested a man for arson past week aft he allegedly lit a fire wrong a USPS postulation mailbox, destroying 5 ballots, and national prosecutors successful Florida charged different man past week for allegedly disposing of hundreds of pieces of predetermination mail, including astatine slightest 1 ballot.

Here's what to cognize astir dealing pinch a ballot that's been damaged.

How tin voters find retired if their ballot is impacted?

Voters who fishy their ballot mightiness beryllium impacted should interaction their section predetermination agency to corroborate if their ballot has been received, according to Brian Hinkle, elder voting argumentation interrogator astatine nan Movement Advancement Project.

Forty-seven states connection free ballot search services, allowing voters to corroborate if their ballots person been mailed, received and counted. In Clark County, Washington -- wherever Vancouver is located -- voters tin way their ballots done nan VoteWA online tool.

A message successful ballot issued by Hudson County, New Jersey for nan 2024 U.S. wide predetermination is seen connected September 22, 2024, successful Hoboken, N.J.

Gary Hershorn/ABC News

"If they don't person a connection that their ballot has been accepted for counting aliases moreover received by nan region agency to beryllium accepted, they're going to cognize something's wrong," said Steve Olsen, nan president of BallotTrax, a package institution whose ballot search work covers 28% of American voters.

When possible, predetermination officials will besides effort to interaction immoderate elector they judge whitethorn beryllium impacted by an incident to guarantee their ballots are received aliases to thief pinch a replacement ballot. Because nan USPS recommends that voters message their ballot by Oct. 29 to guarantee it is received successful time, immoderate voters who petition replacement ballots whitethorn request to ballot successful personification alternatively than effort to ballot by message again.

"There are systems successful spot successful each state, pinch each ineligible system, to make judge that someone's ballot wouldn't beryllium taken distant from them by specified a criminal act," said Woodall-Vogg.

How are predetermination officials capable to way individual ballots?

According to Olsen, predetermination officials are capable to way individual ballots by utilizing "intelligent message barcodes" that are embedded successful envelopes for absentee ballots.

"Voters tin way their ballots likewise to really they would way package delivery," said Hinkle.

The barcodes -- which are printed connected nan envelopes sent to voters, arsenic good arsenic nan return envelopes for nan ballots themselves -- let voters to way erstwhile their absentee ballot is mailed out, sent back, and received by predetermination officials.

The search exertion cannot spot really a ballot has been filled out.

"Basically, what we're doing is search nan envelopes," said Olsen. "We person nary entree to nan ballot."

BallotTrax useful pinch predetermination offices successful 546 counties crossed nan United States, covering 72 cardinal voters and search complete 240 cardinal ballots. Created successful 2009 to assistance nan metropolis of Denver its elections, nan institution expanded tenfold successful 2020 erstwhile ample swaths of nan state moved to mail-in voting arsenic a consequence of nan COVID-19 pandemic.

Individual counties ft nan measure for nan BallotTrax service, which allows voters to opt-in to person free updates astir their ballot status, according to Olsen. Even if a elector does not opt successful to tracking, predetermination offices tin still way ballots to place issues.

Once a ballot makes it to a section predetermination agency and is removed from its return envelope, nan ballot is nary longer identifiable to a peculiar voter, preserving nan anonymity of nan vote.

"Once nan ballot is pulled retired of nan envelope, wherever each of nan recognition marks are connected it, it becomes anonymous astatine that point," Olsen said.

What happens to damaged ballots?

If a ballot is damaged successful transit but still recognizable, predetermination officials tin effort to remake nan ballot truthful that it tin beryllium fed into a voting machine. Bipartisan teams are progressive successful nan process known arsenic "ballot duplication."

"The predetermination workers will reconstruct nan ballot to sphere nan voters' intent and construe it onto a cleanable caller ballot," Hinke said.

If a elector suspects their ballot mightiness beryllium damaged, they should interaction their section predetermination agency to corroborate if their ballot has been received aliases if they request to petition a replacement ballot.

Are ballot driblet boxes safe?

Despite nan caller high-profile incidents, ballot driblet boxes are still 1 of nan astir unafraid ways to formed a ballot, according to experts.

Most ballot driblet boxes are tamper proof, bolted to nan ground, nether 24-hour surveillance, and see occurrence suppression systems. In astir areas, nan ballots themselves are picked up by two-person teams.

"We person a chain-of-custody strategy successful spot truthful that we cognize erstwhile we picked up nan ballots and erstwhile we dropped them off, and each nan ballots person barcodes connected them, truthful that they're secure," said George Dreckmann, a longtime canvass worker successful Milwaukee. "So nan driblet container strategy is arsenic safe arsenic putting it successful nan mail, and successful immoderate cases, mightiness moreover beryllium safer."

Drop boxes successful galore states person occurrence suppression systems that extinguish fires utilizing powder alternatively than water, preventing further harm to nan ballots. While nan occurrence suppression strategy grounded to activity efficaciously during Monday's arson onslaught successful Clark County, predetermination officials credited nan occurrence suppression strategy pinch redeeming complete 400 ballots successful neighboring Multnomah County, Oregon.

"These boxes are very secure, and voters should beryllium capable to spot utilizing them," said Hinkle.