The United States Postal Service recommends mailing your ballot at least seven days before November 8th to ensure that it arrives on time. Starting today and going forward, any Rhode Island voter who still has a mail ballot is encouraged to return it using secure election drop boxes located in every community.
“Remember that mail ballots must be received – not postmarked – by 8 p.m. on Election Day,” said Secretary Gorbea. “At this point, using a secure election drop box is the best way to ensure that your mail ballot is received in time. As long as your mail ballot is in an election drop box by 8 p.m. on November 8th, it will be counted.”
All election drop boxes in Rhode Island are under surveillance 24 hours a day. They are emptied daily by local boards of canvassers and the mail ballots within are transported to the Board of Elections. Voters can use any of the election drop boxes across the state to return their mail ballot. Voters can use Secretary Gorbea’s drop box finder to locate the drop box closest to them and track the status of their mail ballot online at vote.ri.gov.
Voting from home is one of the three secure options Rhode Islanders have for casting a ballot. Voters who did not apply for a mail ballot have the choice of voting early or voting at the polls on Election Day. Learn more about each of these voting options at vote.ri.gov.
Additionally, the Elections Division has added a new feature to the Voter Turnout Tracker data visualization tool that tracks the volume of early voters by date, by time of day, and by city/town. Users may filter the early voter turnout data to see hourly and daily vote totals at either the statewide or individual city/town level.