County clerk offers inside look at elections

In response to ongoing national suspicions about the integrity of America’s elections, County Clerk Linda Fritz is inviting all interested citizens to take a behind-the-scenes look at how elections are conducted in Wyoming, including the safeguards that have been put in place. Two informational sessions have been scheduled on March 12 and 13 and are open to all members of the public.

Fritz has planned the sessions as a way to reassure the voters of Crook County about the security and transparency in Wyoming elections. A resolution recently passed at the Wyoming Republican Party’s state committee meeting may have cast some doubt on the integrity processes of Wyoming elections and those who administer them.

The resolution calls for stricter election rules and casts doubt on some aspects of the 2020 elections in this state.

“Public confidence in our federal election system is at an all-time low,” the resolution begins, going on to criticize pending federal legislation that the party feels would legalize “wide-spread abuse of absentee and mail-in voting, lax voter registration requirements that allow for dead and ineligible person to vote and otherwise remove the safeguards necessary to ensure election integrity.”

While the intent of the resolution appears to have been to speak to allegations of fraud across the nation, says Fritz, portions of the resolution are directed at Wyoming County Clerks.

As stated in the resolution, “Some county clerks this year opposed the function performed by poll watchers and county clerks attempted to restrict the Republican Party’s poll watching program.”

“Further, some county clerks told the Wyoming Republican Party and poll watchers that they would not be welcome to stay in the polling place after the polling place closed at 7 p.m. to observe that crucial process,” it goes on.

However, it wasn’t the clerks that prevented poll watchers from entering polling places after the 7 p.m. deadline, says Fritz – it was the law. State statutes mandate that only election judges are permitted to be inside polling places once the polls close.

“County clerks did not permit poll watchers to be present after the polls were closed because that would have been a violation of state statute, and thus a violation of the oaths we took,” she says.

“We had also offered input on the poll watcher training manual as there were a few items contrary to state statute and we also requested to be a part of the training to field questions if necessary.”

Fritz and her fellow clerks invite those who have concerns about what happens once the polls close to serve as an election judge. “Our counties are always in need of election judges and would welcome the opportunity to welcome new ones,” she says.

Fritz stated that she has spoken with Chairman Frank Eathorne of the Republican Party of Wyoming and believes their dialogue was productive. He confirmed that the intent of many portions of the resolution were not directed at Wyoming elections, while Fritz expressed her concerns as to how the resolution may be perceived by the voters in Wyoming.

“The county clerks diligently work to provide secure elections”, states Fritz.

Wyoming has successfully used absentee voting for 75 years, says Fritz, who points out that there is a distinction between mail-in and absentee voting. The former, which has been called into question during recent discussions of election integrity, involves automatically sending out ballots to every registered voter.

In Wyoming, on the other hand, a voter must request a ballot. This, according to Secretary of State Ed Buchanan, who also penned a response to the resolution, is prescribed by Wyoming’s constitution and dates back to 1944.

The resolution also demands that any county whose records suggest more people voted in the 2020 election than are registered or eligible should undergo an audit. While it would certainly be suspicious if there were more votes than voters in a county, says Fritz, that’s not what happened.

“Voter turnout on election night may appear as though more people voted than are registered to vote,” she says. This is because, “Same-day registrations are not factored into the election night totals.”

Buchanan addresses this too, pointing out that a greater-than-100% turnout has been seen during the last six presidential elections.

“Though a bit strange, it simply indicates that on the day of the election, many voters registered at the polls,” he explains in his letter to Eathorne.

The resolution also states that voter registration should not be allowed over the phone or internet. That’s already the case, says Fritz, who comments that, “They are permitted to register by mail but must still provide a sufficient evidence of identity and are required to have signed their voter registration application before a notary.”

In its resolution, the Wyoming Republican Party calls for a return to paper ballots and a rejection of electronic voting systems. In Wyoming, however paper ballots are still utilized.

The county clerks rigorously test the electronic voting machines before each election to make sure they are tabulating the vote correctly. The testing process consists of creating a “test deck” of ballots by randomly voting multiple ballots, counting the votes by hand, transcribing onto a spreadsheet and then running those test decks through the electronic equipment.

The results from the human count and the machine count must match. Each time that they have not matched, says Fritz, a review of the ballot has shown that it was human error on the spreadsheet and that the machines counted them correctly.

Both Buchanan and Fritz have expressed support for House Bill 75 “Voter Fraud Prevention,” which will require voters to present identification at the polls. Initially, says Fritz, she had concerns about such a law on the basis that it could disenfranchise people, for example older voters who are unable to hold a driver’s license.

The latest version does not require the identification to be currently valid, so a voter could use their passport or driver’s license even if it has expired. She would like to see the bill updated, however, such that the list of valid ID types matches the one outlined by the Secretary of State for voter registration.

On the other hand, Fritz has grave concerns over the federal bill related to election practices that is currently making its way through Congress. HR1 has numerous flaws that she believes will place an undue burden on clerks and election judges and may dissuade them from participating altogether.

For example, she questions the expense associated with suggested software upgrades for an automated phone system and on-line voter registration modules. She is also concerned as to the oversight that will be lost by election officials to ensure voter registration integrity.

The bill also states that it is the responsibility of the government to make sure all qualified citizens are registered to vote, which Fritz questions on the basis that it should be a citizen’s own responsibility to exercise their right to vote.

These are just a few of the many questions Fritz has had so far while reading through the 700-plus pages of the bill. She believes the Wyoming Republican Party’s resolution may have been responding in part to this bill, rather than targeting the voting system in this state directly, but maintains that Wyoming’s elections are free, fair and secure.

“I think most of us would agree that in Wyoming, we do elections the right way, always have, always will,” agrees Buchanan in his letter. “A big part of securing our election process is growing voter confidence in our elections. The battle for voter confidence is worth fighting for; this is the battle for democracy in a constitutional republic.”

Fritz invites the public to take a look behind the scenes of their election system during two informational sessions. These have been scheduled to take place at the county courthouse, the first from 2 to 4 p.m. on Friday, March 12 and the second from 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 13.