RI Board Of Elections Processing Mail Ballot Backlog

CRANSTON, RI — Mail-in voting is well underway in Rhode Island, and the state's Board of Elections is working to process a large influx of returned ballots.

"We asked you to send back your ballots early and you have responded!" the board tweeted Tuesday. "We are currently working through a bit of a backlog of received ballots, but we expect to be caught up within a couple of days."

Spokesperson Miguel Nunez said the board is currently receiving about 5,000 completed mail ballots each day, and can scan up to 20,000 ballots per day. The backlog is expected to be cleared by Friday "at the latest."

Voters can check the status of their mail ballots on the Secretary of State's website. The board updates the system at 7 p.m. each night, according to Nunez. Signed, sealed mail ballots must be received by 8 p.m. on election night, not just postmarked. Ballots can be sent back by mail, dropped into a secure ballot drop box or hand-delivered to the Board of Elections at 2000 Plainfield Pike in Cranston.

Find a list of dropboxes here.