2024 Presidential Election: How to track your ballot and what to do if it's damaged

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A number of ballot drop boxes around the country have been set on fire, raising new concerns about the security of mail-in ballot boxes. 

Many voters ae wondering just how safe and secure their ballots are, and what steps they can take to ensure their vote is counted. 

Maryland election officials say drop boxes have surveillance cameras that are watching. Ballots are collected twice a day and there are yellow bags at polling places if you prefer to hand in your ballot in Maryland. 

Virginia and D.C. also offer online tools to help check the status of your ballot. Each ballot has a barcode that acts as an identifier. 

"You can text the word check. Text the word check to 77788. Give it a couple of days, I'm talking about 72 hours or more text. You will provide your information: name... ZIP Code... date of birth, and then you can see the status... whether it was scanned... received accepted, etc," said Gilbert Zelaya of The Montgomery Board of Elections. 

Voters are urged to use the QR or barcode provided to check the status of their ballot. 

Officials say a suspect has been identified in two of the drop box arson cases out west, although his motive is not known at this time.