Here's how Oregon voters can check if their ballot has been accepted
For voters who have submitted their ballots for the May 17 election and are curious about where it is in the process of being counted, there are a couple of ways to check.
Voters in any county can visit the Oregon Secretary of State's Office website at oregonvotes.gov and click on the My Vote tab to check the status of their ballot. It will state whether a ballot has been mailed out to the voter and, once filled out and returned, if the appropriate county elections office has received it.
By rule, all ballots must be put into the mail to voters by May 3. If you are registered to vote and have not received your ballot yet, contact your county elections office.
Signature confirmation
The Secretary of State website does not confirm whether ballots are "accepted," just whether they have been received. If there is an issue with signature confirmation, voters may not know until they receive a letter from their county elections office asking them to "cure" the discrepancy.
Curing requires voters to submit a signature that officials can match with the signature on the ballot.
Voters have up to 14 days after Election Day on May 17 to cure their signature and have their vote counted. Final election results are not certified and released until 30 days after the election.
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Detailed tracking in four counties
In four counties — Marion, Yamhill, Washington and Multnomah — voters have an additional option.
Those counties use a system called BallotTrax, which allows voters to sign up for a free subscription and receive text, email or voice message updates as their ballots are processed.
Counties in 19 states plus Washington, D.C. allow voters to sign up with BallotTrax.
BallotTrax differentiates between "received" and "accepted," meaning voters who have a subscription will know right away when their signature has been confirmed and their ballot accepted.
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Voters can sign up for BallotTrax through those four counties' election websites for the 2022 election. The process takes about two minutes.
Marion County Clerk Bill Burgess said other Oregon counties used the BallotTrax system in previous years, but many dropped it once the state stopped paying for it.
Burgess said Marion County decided to keep it because voters found it useful.
Oregon ballot deadlines
In the past, ballots needed to arrive at county elections offices by 8 p.m. on Election Day to be counted.
This year, ballots simply need to be postmarked by Election Day and then can be received up to seven days after to be considered valid.
This change is due to a law passed by the Oregon Legislature in 2021.
Voters can also submit their ballots at drop sites around the state rather than using the mail. Ballot drop site locations are available online at the Secretary of State's website or county elections websites.
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Here's how Oregon voters can check if their ballot has been accepted
