by Emily Bevard
The Voter Reference Foundation (VRF) revealed on Wednesday that they will add the ability to track absentee ballots in primary and general elections in 2022. The VRF is breaking ground by “providing transparency and accountability to voter rolls by allowing the public to see them,” according to a press release from the organization.
Gina Swoboda, VRF’s executive director, said this comes as part of efforts to make “elections more transparent, piece-by-piece,” the press release said.
“Our mission is to make voter information more accessible to the public,” Swoboda said. “It is the public that bears the cost to collect and maintain this data across the country.”
Starting this week, the public can go to a VRF portal to track sent and returned absentee ballots every day, according to the press release.
“VRF is compiling publicly available information and publishing it in an easy-to-digest and accessible format,” as it does with voter rolls, the press release said. The portal will be updated daily and will be available via the VRF website.
Georgia is one of three states currently in the portal, along with North Carolina and Wisconsin. Michigan and Nevada are set to be added soon.
“The states operate their primaries in various months, ranging from May through August,” the press release said.
The state of Georgia was added to VRF’s voter transparency website, VoteRef.com, in November 2021. The database currently contains the voter rolls of 21 states and Washington, D.C.
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Emily Bevard is a reporter for Peachtree Times.
