The U.S. House of Representatives finally passed the Vote by Mail Tracking Act, a new bill aiming to make tracking mail-in ballots as easy as tracking packages. If it becomes law, all mail-in ballots would need a special USPS barcode to let voters follow their ballots through the entire voting process.
Rep. Katie Porter, who introduced the bill, emphasized the importance of transparency in the voting process. “We should be able to track a ballot just like we can track a package,” she wrote on social media. She added that California already uses this system and that the bill would expand it nationwide to give voters confidence that their ballots are counted.
The bill was introduced in September 2023 by a bipartisan group, including Porter and Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C. Since then, it has gained strong support and was advanced by the House Oversight Committee in February 2024. If passed, the bill would require every mail-in ballot to include a barcode and follow strict USPS design guidelines to ensure accurate processing.
Once the bill takes effect, voters will be able to track their ballots at every stage—whether it is being received, in transit, or has reached election officials. This new system would apply to all federal elections, creating consistent mail-in voting standards across the country.
In 2020, a whopping 43% of voters decided to go the mail-in route, probably because, you know, the pandemic made standing in line feel like a bad idea. By 2022, that number had dropped to 31.9%, which, surprise, surprise, was a bit of a post-pandemic reality check. Still, mail-in voting is far from obsolete, and this bill is here to “fix” some of its lingering issues while pretending to restore the trust we definitely have in the system.
The bill will head to the Senate, and if it passes, it will go to the president for final approval. During the 2024 election, the U.S. Postal Service took some steps to ensure smooth mail-in voting.
