PORTLAND, Ore. -- Twelve Oregon counties are using a relatively new system that lets you track your ballot through the counting process and will alert you to any problems.
The counties offering the alert system: Benton, Clackamas, Douglas, Harney, Hood River, Jackson, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Multnomah and Yamhill counties.
A test run for a smaller election in 2015 was so well received that now 12 Oregon counties are offering the ballot tracking for this huge presidential election year. More counties could sign up if voters demand it.
An insert inside every mailed Multnomah County ballot tells you how to track your status. Go online, type in the website https://multnomah.i3ballot.net/ and provide your name, birth date and zip code. The website will show you when your ballot was mailed, when it was accepted and the previous elections you voted in.
Choose whether you want a text alert, phone call or email. Then, your ballot status alerts you. In our test case, it was a text. At last check, 25,000 Multnomah county voters have signed up for the alerts. That's just about five percent of registered voters.
"I think it could be a great idea to make people feel heard and acknowledged that it's actually not just going into a void," said voter Mercy Browne.
Multnomah County Elections Director Tim Scott said the system is already making common ballot mistakes easier and quicker to fix.
"If someone's signature doesn't match or they forgot to sign their ballot, or any of the problems people have with their ballot, they'll get a message saying there's a problem with your ballot, give us a call. We don't get into the specifics of that in the message, but when they call us, we can look at the record and say you forgot to sign, come on down and do that," Scott said.
If you don't live in one of those 12 counties with this alert system, you can still make sure your ballot is in. Go oregonvotes.Gov and you can check.