How To Make Sure Your Mail-In-Ballot Is Counted In Polk County

POLK COUNTY, FL —A record number of voters — in Polk County, across Florida and nationwide — are expected to stay away from traditional polling places for the Nov. 3 general election because of the coronavirus pandemic and instead cast their ballots by mail.

To help ensure your vote is among those tallied Patch has put together a guideline for this year's Biden vs. Trump presidential election, and how to track your vote.

In the 2016 presidential election, 21,973 mail-in-ballots from Florida were rejected, according to USA Today.

Politico reported that two of the biggest reasons Florida ballots are rejected is because almost 66 percent of voters missed the mail-in deadline in the state's recent primary, and the rest were signatures that did not meet signature requirements that each county election supervisors use to verify signatures.

Here are tips provided by the Florida Division of Elections to help your mail-in-vote be counted for November's election:

• October 24 at 5 p.m. is the deadline to request that a vote-by-mail ballot be mailed. For Polk County mail-in-ballot requests, visit the Supervisor of Elections website.
• Be sure to follow instructions attached to the mail-in-ballot.
• A returned voted ballot must be received by the Supervisor of Elections' office no later than 7 p.m. on Election Day. A vote-by-mail ballot can be returned by mail or delivered in person.
• If you returned your vote by mail ballot to your Supervisor of Elections, but forgot to sign the ballot, your ballot will not count unless you complete and return the Vote by Mail Cure Affidavit no later than 5 p.m. on the second day after the election. The documentation can be returned by mail, email, fax or in person. The deadline to submit the form and your ID is no later than 5 p.m. on the second day after an election. Failure to follow the instructions may cause the ballot not to be counted.

See related: Where To Find Drop Boxes For Absentee Ballots In Polk County

• If your signature doesn't meet signature requirements, the supervisor of elections is required to notify a voter as soon as it is practical if a voter's signature is missing or does not match the one on record.
• If you want to track your mail-in-ballot to make sure it's counted, you can track its status online through a link within the Division of Elections' Voter Information Lookup or you can email the Polk County Supervisor of Elections votebymail@polkelection.com and ask if your ballot has been counted. You must include your full name and date of birth in the email. Or call the elections office at (863)534‐5888.

Ballots in Polk County are scanned before Election Day.