Dear editor:

This letter is in response to Rep. Dan Laursen (R-Powell) and Dave McMillan’s request to the Park County Commissioners to hand count ballots. This is the second time such a request has been made. It was rejected last time. Why?

In 2022, after the commissioners heard the first request to allow hand-counting of ballots, they turned to the Wyoming Attorney General (AG) for advice. The AG wrote a response saying Section 22-14-114, of the Wyoming Election Code says, “ballots designed to be counted by machine, each individual vote shall be determined by the voting equipment and shall not be determined subjectively by human tabulations …”  The AG also said, Article 6, Section 11 of the Wyoming Constitution prohibits the county from ever turning over ballots to any outside person or group. The Election Code and Constitution gives responsibility only to the Secretary of State and the county clerks, not county commissioners.  

This request by Mr. Laursen and Mr. McMillan is just another attempt to throw doubt on the integrity of our elections. In an election, all ballots are paper ballots filled out by the voter in private. The voter himself or herself puts their paper ballot into the counting machine by themselves. The machine just records the votes the voter has marked on their ballot and stores the ballot in a locked box. The machine has no capacity to connect with the internet or anything else. The county clerk conducts a sample audit of the machines to assure their accuracy. I have worked for many years as an election judge and have personally witnessed this voting process.

The county clerks have stated repeatedly they oppose hand counting of ballots. Why? No. 1, It does not comply with state laws. No. 2, It has been shown to be much more inaccurate than the electronic ballot counting machine. No. 3, It is much slower and more labor intensive with far less accurate results.

The county clerks have put on several educational sessions for the public on how the voting process works, including showing how the machines work.  

Have any of the people challenging the current process attended? No. It makes one wonder if their motive is to throw doubt on the integrity of our elections as well as our democracy. Anyone, if approved by the county clerk, can be an election observer. The Republican Party trained and deployed 200 poll watchers to 150 polling locations across the state during the last general election. They found no irregularities.  

The previous Secretary of State Ed Buchanan, stated repeatedly, the Wyoming election process is safe, reliable and efficient. He said we should be proud of the integrity of our elections and the election officials, our county clerks. According to Section 22-2-103 of the Wyoming Election Code, the only official election officers in the state are the Secretary of State and the county clerks. Nowhere in the election code are county commissioners designated any authority to be election officials. They have no jurisdiction for running elections. Mr. Laursen and Mr. McMillan are asking the county commissioners to intervene in a process where they have no legal right to intervene. Commissioners, please tell them that.

Phyllis Roseberry

Chair, Wyoming Rising