Virginia is making it less stressful to vote by mail this year.
Every mail-in ballot will have a smart bar code included on it to allow both Virginia residents and their local registrar to track the vote.
The Albemarle County Registrar’s Office says that in addition to the bar code, it’s also redesigned its envelopes with new messages to indicate to the Post Office that it’s priority mail.
The office hopes this will speed up the time period from when the ballot leaves the hands of the voter to when it’s in the hands of the registrar.
Some localities in Virginia were already using the bar code, but the State Board of Elections made it mandatory for all localities last Tuesday.
It’s meant to give voters some peace-of-mind, especially with the higher number of mail-in ballots expected this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“It makes people rest a little easier to know, ‘Okay, my ballot is at this point,'” said Lauren Eddy, the deputy registrar of voters for Albemarle County. “It’s like you’re tracking your Amazon packages.”
As of July 1, you no longer have to submit a state-approved reason to vote “absentee” this year. Eddy says they’ll start sending out mail-in ballots around Sept. 18 to those that register.