Top Election 2024 Voter Question: Where's My Ballot?
It's Election 2024 and you are ready to vote!
For many absentee / vote-by-mail voters waiting for their ballot to arrive, it's usually mid-October when the alarm goes off. “Where's my ballot?” is question number one. If you are one of those voters, here's what to do!
Check to see if your state offers ballot tracking
Many states now have ballot tracking tools for voters to check the status of their ballot. These are excellent services that allow you to see that your ballot is sent to you, received, and counted. To see if your state provides this service, you can check out our Where's My Ballot chart. If your state offers ballot tracking you'll see check-mark next to it. Click on that and it will to take you directly to your state's ballot tracking service.
Find My State's Ballot Tracking Tool
Didn't find it? Next step: check with your election office
If you cannot find your ballot in the tracking system, or if your state does not offer a ballot tracking service, your next step is to contact your election office. Be prepared to provide your name, your voting residence address, and date of birth. That should be enough for them to find and check on the status of your ballot. You can contact your election office by email or phone.
Lookup My Election Office Contact Information
Overseas Voters / Voting from Abroad / Military Voters
- If you are an overseas voter, voting from abroad, or a military voter, spouse or dependent - start with the same advice as listed above as your initial steps - 1) Check your state's ballot tracking, and 2) Contact your election office. Make sure you try those steps first!
- Overseas absentee ballots begin going out to voters who requested them as of 45 days before the election. That does not mean the deadline to request overseas absentee ballots is prior to that, on the contrary, every state has it's own election dates and deadlines for overseas and military voters and some are right up to the day prior to the election. Check your deadlines, if you have not yet requested your ballot.
Emergency Ballot - Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot
If all attempts to receive your ballot fail, as a last resort you can use the overseas and military voter emergency ballot, the Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot (FWAB).
The FWAB is an alternative, downloadable ballot which, depending on your voter status, you can use to vote in federal, state, and local elections, including on ballot measures. It is accepted by all states and territories. Find out more about the FWAB in our Voter Help Desk FAQ.The FWAB is used by registered overseas and active duty uniformed services voters who have not received their official absentee ballot in a timely manner.
Access the Federal Write-in Absentee (Emergency) Ballot
Note: If you send in a FWAB and then receive your regular ballot from your election office, you should still complete the regular ballot and send it in. This is an allowable practice and does not equal voting twice. Only one ballot will be counted.
Did you forget to file your ballot request form? Overseas voters, military voters and their families much file an overseas registration / absentee-ballot request form every year. Usually, this can be filed online, and the ballot can be requested online. That helps to collapse the time to vote as the front-end of the process, but be prepared to print your ballot and send it back according to your state's instructions.
Your ballot will come with instructions that will explicitly outline your ballot return options. To see the various ballot return options for your state, go to the State Voter Information Directory / Voter Materials Transmission Options chart for Overseas and Military Voters in your state.
Ballot sent by mail and now stuck in US Customs?
Reports have come in from some voters abroad who sent their ballots back to the US, some by registered mail, only to find that they are now stuck in US Customs.
If this is your situation, please send your postal tracking number to info@usvotefoundation.org along with any other relevant information. We are working with USPS to try to expedite these ballots out of US Customs.