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 county clerks rebuff Secretary of State, keep ballot drop boxes | Maggie Mullen/Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Wyoming counties that used ballot drop boxes in 2022 will employ them again this year, despite Secretary of State Chuck Gray urging local election officials to ditch them ahead of early voting. Voters in the seven counties that provided drop boxes two years ago — Albany, Carbon, Converse, Fremont, Laramie, Sweetwater and Teton — will have the option to use them again this year to return absentee ballots. Drop boxes represent a legal, secure and convenient way for voters to deliver their ballots, several county clerks told WyoFile, adding that they made the decision to keep drop boxes in consultation with their local county attorneys. The boxes allow for rural ranchers and shift workers in the energy industry to safely drop off their ballots outside the operating hours of the clerk’s office, some clerks also said. Read Article