A bill to open up Wyoming to mail-in ballot elections failed to gain any traction against a headwind of concerns about voter fraud and uninformed voters having an easier time participating in the system. House Bill 36 would have allowed county commissioners to choose to run state and federal elections through a mail-in ballot system. It failed on a 4-3 vote Thursday in the House Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee, with Reps. Aaron Clausen, R-Douglas; Dan Furphy, R-Laramie; and Chairman Tyler Lindholm, R-Sundance, voting in favor. Two freshman members were excused from the meeting and didn’t enter a proxy vote.
The effort to get a bill before the Legislature was spearheaded by the Wyoming County Clerks Association due to the looming high cost of replacing election equipment and the difficulty in hiring election judges across the state.
Horror stories in the news made some balk at allowing mail-in ballots. Rep. Roy Edwards, R-Gillette, mentioned issues with signature verification in Broward County, Florida, during the 2018 election, and worried Wyoming would open itself up to lawsuits, along with major potential for voter fraud.
(In the states that have moved to all mail-in ballot elections – Colorado, Washington and Oregon – there have been few recorded instances of voter fraud.)
Full Article: Mail-in ballots bill dies | Wyoming | gillettenewsrecord.com.