The Park County Commissioners will not approve a proposal by Park County Republican Men’s Club to hand-count ballots in the 2022 elections, but the proposal remains in play. The commission followed the counsel of Park County and Prosecuting Attorney Bryan Skoric, who advised against the proposal, citing several apparent conflicts with Wyoming election statutes as well as federal law. The commission will now consider whether to approve a request to hand-count ballots from the previous election instead, pending an opinion from the Wyoming Attorney General. Wyoming uses paper ballots and tallies them with electronic counting machines. The Park County Republican Men’s Club proposed counting those ballots by hand, characterizing it as a way to reassure voters of the accuracy of the machines. Since then, Park County has become a focal point in a statewide conversation about election integrity. While maintaining that Wyoming’s elections are fair, efficient and free from tampering, election officials agree that voter confidence in the process needs a boost. Hand-counting ballots, however, is not a legal solution, according to the county attorney.
Wyoming group tries to make a case for paper ballots and hand counting ballots to the Sweetwater County Commissioners | Wyo4News
The Cause of Wyoming group, affiliated with Cause of America, presented an “Election Integrity Proposal” at the Sweetwater County Commissioners meeting, advocating for a shift from the current voting system to paper ballots with manual counting. In response, Commissioner Mary E. Thoman emphasized the county’s use of paper ballots and poll books. Commissioner Island Richards stated, “We have electronic equipment that is backed up by paper ballots. We’re not voting on the screens that we saw in your presentation … We’re voting on paper ballots.” Richards said, “I have looked at and tracked Sweetwater County voting trends for years, and there are leaps of conclusions in those that aren’t backed up by any facts. The presentation … has so many logical fallacies in it that it’s hard to take seriously.” Read Article