WAS IT MAILED IN?: The My Voter Page on the Vermont Secretary of State website lets voters check the status of their voted mail-in ballot.

Whether you wanted one or not, mail-in ballots were sent to every Vermonter on the state’s active voter checklist. Thanks to a tool on the secretary of state’s website, there’s a way to see if your ballot was voted and received at your local town clerk’s office — whether you sent it in or someone else did.

Checking on the status of your vote is easy. To check online, go to the My Voter Page section of the Secretary of State’s website.

In the sign-in box to the right, log in by filling out the simple form, which asks for your name, date of birth, registered town, and either the last four digits of your Social Security Number or your driver’s license number.

Once logged in, voters can see a dashboard with information about the status of your mailed in ballot, and whether it was received by your local town clerk.

If you mailed in your vote and it shows as received, the process has worked as expected. If for some reason the status doesn’t show as received, it may be worth giving your local town clerk a call.

The tool shows only if your mail in ballot was received. It doesn’t show who sent it in, or how it was sent in. If you did not mail in your vote, but the tool says a vote was cast, contact your town clerk to investigate what happened. The My Voter Page lists the contact information for your local town clerk.

In addition to reporting ballot problems to the appropriate election authorities, individuals are encouraged to report any and all ballot-related issues at the True North Reports Ballot Integrity reporting form.

Examples of vote-by-mail mix-ups and fraud

Vote-by-mail mix-ups and fraud are starting to mount with just two weeks to go until the Nov. 3 election. At least nine military mail-in ballots were found discarded in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.

In Texas, the state attorney general charged four Democrats including a county commissioner with 134 counts of voter fraud related to vote harvesting.

In Brooklyn, New York, a quarter of mail-in ballots were ruled invalid during the Democrat primary in June. In a New Jersey special election almost one-in-five ballots had to be discarded, and four people are being prosecuted as result. Over 35,000 mail-in ballots were rejected in a Florida primary.

Vermonters want election security

Vermonters are not convinced mail-in balloting is secure. A poll of Vermont voters revealed that voters overwhelmingly think there should be an ID required to vote. More than half of voters do not believe election officials can verify who is filling out and sending mail-in ballots.

Michael Bielawski is a reporter for True North. Send him news tips at bielawski82@yahoo.com and follow him on Twitter @TrueNorthMikeB.