Absentee Ballot: What to Do If It Never Showed Up

Virginia Gov. Northam Greets Early Voters In Fairfax

(Photo : Getty Images/Alex Wong)
FAIRFAX, VIRGINIA - OCTOBER 19: A voter drops off an absentee ballot for the November 3, 2020 elections into a collecting bin outside Fairfax County Government Center on October 19, 2020 in Fairfax, Virginia. Virginian voters can vote early at their local registrar’s office from 45 days before Election Day to the Saturday before Election Day.

You may have designed a plan to vote by absentee ballot months ago when nobody knew how the presidential election would look. Voting during a disputed election and the COVID-1i pandemic is reportedly overwhelming.

What to Do If It Never Showed Up

After a Raleigh woman requested an absentee ballot and it did not arrive, she went to an early voting site but was told she had already cast her vote. In response to that, Suzy Bryant cast a provisional ballot and reached out to 5 On Your Side with her concerns about probable voter fraud.

Wake County Board of Elections Director Gary Sims stated his probing into the situation proves the process in place to fight off fraud works. According to Sims, "It looks like maybe the post office may have dropped [the ballot] in a wrong mailbox," he said. "The actual voter [also] had requested an absentee ballot," reported WRAL.

Several voters across the United States have yet to receive the arrival of their mail-in ballots at their doorstep. This is due to mail delivery delays, printing errors, and the sheer amount of requests leaving many states across the nation to scramble for the arrival of the ballots preceding the fast-approaching deadline, reported WXII 12.

Meanwhile, Norfolk business owner Andrea Bear chose to vote by mail amid the COVID-19 pandemic. She then mailed it off in September but took the extra effort of tracing it to ensure it was counted.

According to Bear, "I was doing it early enough. The biggest takeaway is don't just assume it landed safely - if it matters to you enough, make sure it landed," reported WTKR.

Also Read: Mail-in Voting vs. Absentee Voting: Important Differences to Know Before Election

On Tuesday, voters who either never received their mail-in ballot or never received confirmation that it arrived through their county elections office will reportedly be voters. Voters do have a fail-safe choice that involves going to their designated polling place on November 3, Election Day.

Meanwhile, Charles Inge, who has voted in Dallas County from his residence in London, England for over three decades, regularly mail in his overseas ballot. The 65-year-old would request his mail-in or absentee ballot in February each time, and his November ballot would be received in September. That did not happen this year.

Election officials remark that mail-in ballots are still being sent to voters through this week. The ballots would be counted so long as they are postmarked by Tuesday, November 3, and arrive in county offices by Wednesday.

Ohio voters have witnessed delays courtesy of a ballot printing backup. In Michigan, where 3 million absentee ballots were requested, 20,000 absentee ballots have not yet been disseminated.

The problems range from errors, oversights, or accidents preventing their voters from being counted. The North Carolina State Board of Elections reported over 6,000 absentee ballots currently having deficiencies. They would only be counted when they are corrected.

A resort could be a Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot. It is the equivalent of a provisional ballot for overseas and military voters. It would not be counted on Election Day but would be counted before the final vote canvass.