Members of the Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee met for the first time this interim on May 21. Lawmakers spoke for two days on a broad range of topics, including election security, a topic that was named a priority while the committee was deciding its priority list in March.
Secretary of State Chuck Gray, the state’s top election officer, was the primary speaker during the election security portion of the meeting. During that time, the room was packed and Gray brought a long list of failed election bills from the previous legislative session, not dissimilar to the secretary's appearance in front of the committee last year.
Gray noted a few things he said were positive moves toward a more secure election. He praised the Legislature’s moves earlier this year to ban ranked-choice voting, implement proof-of-residency requirements for voters and prevent election officials from receiving non-governmental organization funds.
Bill drafts requested
Gray’s office identified roughly 30 election bills that failed over the past two legislative sessions that he wants to see reconsidered. Lawmakers on the committee narrowed that number down to 14 and one bill draft request. Any that move forward would be reviewed and updated by the Legislative Service Office (LSO) before the committee begins to publicly work on each bill.
HB 48 Pen and paper ballots: This bill would require counties to use pen and paper as the default method to mark ballots for elections in Wyoming. Gray noted that this was already the norm in all but Laramie County. Gray said this would help to implement President Trump’s executive order on election integrity.
HB 49 Ballot drop boxes-prohibition: Gray wrote to county clerks in 2024 urging them not to use unattended ballot drop boxes. Several clerks offered them later that year, though they said they checked the boxes at least daily and some used video surveillance. Gray contends the Wyoming Constitution already bars using drop boxes. Now, he wants Wyoming law to prohibit them explicitly. Gray added that, under the current statute, he maintains the attorney general “should take action on ensuring compliance with counties on the current code."
HB 50 Ballot harvesting prohibition: This bill would bar third parties from delivering ballots to the county clerk on behalf of others.
HB 51 Random hand count audits of election results: Lawmakers passed a bill earlier this year requiring clerks to compare the results of machine tabulating equipment against a hand count. But it’s only for this year’s primary and general elections. This bill would require clerks to do a hand count accuracy check for one precinct in each county in perpetuity.
HB 52 Election hand counting for recounts: This bill would allow certain recounts to be counted by hand, instead of the currently used machine tabulators.
HB 53 Poll watchers-polling stations observation: Gray referred to this bill as the “poll watchers bill of rights.” It would include voter registration and vote counting as events poll watchers could observe, and allow them to be close enough to hear and see voters. Poll watchers would be designated by chairs of county political parties.
HB 54 Elections-independent candidate requirements: This bill would require independent candidates to swear that they are unaffiliated or not registered with a major or minor political party. It would also increase the number of signatures needed to petition to be on the ballot.
HB 59 Bond election language process: This bill would allow people to sue if a bond question regarding city or county funds is not presented in a neutral and unbiased manner. Bond questions are measures put forth to voters to approve a town or county issuing public debt for local projects.
HB 94 Election purity and hand count act: This bill would provide the basis to enact hand-counting methods around the state in place of voting machines.
HB 22 Recall of elected municipal officers: This bill would allow for 40% of voters to petition to recall any municipal official.
SF 29 Elections-acceptable identification revisions:
This bill replaces a chunk of state law that specifies which types of identification can be used to vote with a simpler description: The ID must not be expired, must be in the original form in which it was issued and must include a photograph of the person. Medicare and Medicaid insurance cards and some student IDs may no longer be acceptable.
SF 33 Political parties-county central committees: This bill would allow party members to be elected to their respective county central party committee.
Gray also requested the committee draft a bill to move the deadline for registered voters to declare party affiliation ahead of the primary election to Jan. 1 in an attempt to cut down on crossover voting. This year, that deadline fell on May 13, a day before the candidate filing period opened.
Committee reactions
The committee appeared split between lawmakers who felt the committee would be burdened by the number of proposed bills versus lawmakers deeply concerned over election security.
“There's lots of things we put off in past interims because we've taken up so many election bills,” said Sen. Cale Case (R-Lander). “So I'm not enthusiastic.”
Sen. Bill Landon (R-Casper) told the committee to consider if the bills “rise to the level” of a joint conference committee, suggesting that the three different hand-count related bills could be combined into one.
Rep. Mike Yin (D-Jackson) asked the committee, “What’s the point, other than using up a bunch of time?” to hear public comment on hand-count bills for a second year in a row. Rep. Nina Webber (R-Cody) responded, saying that many of the election related bill votes during the session were “close” and that indicates continued interest from the public regarding election bills.
A WPR investigation found that nearly half of the formal complaints sent to the secretary of state’s office in the past two years focused on misconduct or wrongdoing by election officials, whereas just 7.5% alleged voter fraud. However, Rep. Joe Webb (R-Lyman) took the position that committees like this should be proactive in their work instead of waiting for more cases to pop up.
Committee action
The committee voted on each bill and the request as individuals yays vs nays.
Of the 14 items and one draft request, only the bill about bond question language failed to move forward.
The committee directed the LSO to review the 13 remaining bills and prepare them for presentation to the committee, which is scheduled to meet again on Sept. 10 in Casper.
This reporting was made possible by a grant from the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, supporting state government coverage in the state. Wyoming Public Media and Jackson Hole Community Radio are partnering to cover state issues both on air and online.
