CLEVELAND, Ohio – A Mayfield Heights woman who dropped her vote-by-mail ballot in a secure voter drop box on Sunday started to worry when the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections ballot tracker still hadn’t confirmed it three days later.
As of Wednesday night, the tracker was still showing “not returned,” she wrote in an email to cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.
But there’s no reason to panic, BOE spokesman Mike West assured voters on Thursday.
There is a high volume of ballots being returned ahead of the November presidential election – by mail and by drop box – he said, and staff have to process each of them by hand. A team of bipartisan election officials then have to verify that the information on the ID envelope matches the voter’s registration record.
Throughout that time, though, the ballots remain secure, West stressed.
“Three or four days to process the ballot and enter into the system would not be unusual at this time,” West said. “The process time will continue to become shorter as fewer ballots are returned as the election gets closer.”
On Tuesday, the BOE had processed 69,000 vote-by-mail ballots. By Wednesday, numbers had jumped to 80,000, official data posted on the BOE’s website shows.
That means the office is processing about 10,000 ballots per day. But there remain 93,052 mail-in ballots that have been requested but either have not yet been returned or are waiting to be processed, the website shows. The drop box is emptied at 5 p.m. every night.
As of Wednesday’s count, about 107,000 Cuyahogans had voted, by mail or in person.
The Mayfield Heights woman was one of them, records show. Her online ballot tracker had been updated to show her ballot was “accepted for counting on 10/23/2024.”
“That message means there’s no turning back,” West said. “Voters can rest assured that they have successfully voted.”
Voters using the track-your-ballot feature will see a series of dates confirming their ballots progress. It starts with the date their mail-in application was approved, followed by the date it was mailed.
The next update should be when the ballot is received by the Board of Elections. For voters who are still filling out their ballots or have turned it but have not had their ballot processed, the tracker will read, “not returned.”
Once the ballot is returned and processed, however, the tracker will be updated with the date the ballot was accepted for counting. At that point, the vote is ready to be tabulated on election night, West said.
In some cases where ballots have been returned but are missing information, like a signature or proof of identification, voters will receive a notice in the mail explaining the issue and providing directions for how to correct it.
At that point, voters using the online tracker will see the date the ballot was received but it will read “not accepted for counting.” The tracker will also note the reason the ballot is being challenged.
“The Board of Elections is asking people to be patient,” West said. “All of these things are done slowly, carefully and deliberately.”
Cuyahoga County ballots can be mailed to the BOE office at P.O. Box 89448, Cleveland, OH 44101. To be counted, they must be postmarked by Nov. 4.
Ballots can also be deposited in the secure drop box, open 24 hours, in the BOE’s parking lot, at 2925 Euclid Ave., until polls close on Nov. 5.
Residents can also vote early in-person at the BOE office. Early voting is available weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., except on Tuesday when hours are extended to 8:30 p.m. Weekend voting also starts Saturday, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
For a full schedule of early voting times, visit boe.cuyahogacounty.gov.