Ballot safety sets focus of new bills

Taking proactive measures to protect Wyoming’s elections was a major focus for the Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions committee at its interim meeting on Thursday in Douglas.

From preventing non-Wyomingites from voting to making sure that private parties cannot fund the election administration process, a number of bills were moved forward – some for further consideration, but others directly to the floor of next year’s legislative session.

Voter Residency

The first bill on the table aimed to reduce the risk of non-residents voting in Wyoming elections by strengthening the current language in statute. Voters would be asked to swear not only that they are residents of the state, but that they have been so for at least 30 days.

The bill was presented by Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who said it would protect against potential situations such as an organized effort is made to bring people in from other states to stay overnight and then visit the polls to swing a race in a small district.

Asked to clarify how it would work in practice, he said, “The bottom line here is that this is an attestation – it’s an oath.”

The practical implications were questioned at length by members of the committee. Gray was asked how it would be enforceable; what proof can or should a voter present of their residency?

Gray explained that nothing would change from the current practice, in which no proof is required unless a complaint is made that questions a person’s residency.

“You’re perjuring yourself if you’re lying,” he added.

How, the committee asked, would cases where perjury has occurred be identified?

“If we received a complaint, then we’d have a statute to prosecute,” said Gray. “…Right now, there is none, and that’s problematic.”

Representative Mike Yin pointed out that there have been no complaints. No, said Gray, but he has heard anecdotal information and would have a route to pursue these stories.

“Voter fraud is a very difficult thing to pinpoint and we’re working on that a great deal,” Gray said.

It’s a circular conversation, he told the committee – it always comes back to whether we have any examples of fraud, and the answer is no because there’s no way to identify them.

Senator Charles Scott pointed out that there are certain legitimate cases in which a person may not be in Wyoming for 30 days before an election but could still be considered a resident.

He said that people working the oil patch, for example, might spend some months in other states, while some older folks are buying mobile homes so they can move around.

As long as they stay in the state long enough to aggregate 30 days, said Gray, they would qualify.

Representative Jared Olsen noted that, according to statute, residency doesn’t just mean physical location, it can also mean where you have an intent to return. “That’s part of the definition,” he said.

The need for a 30-day specification was also questioned, on the basis that it would be perjury either way if someone came to Wyoming just to vote and said they were a bona fide resident.

Yin expressed discomfort about the fact that the statute would be depriving people of the right to vote if they happened to legitimately move to the state within the 30-day window and asked if the potential fraud that might be found is worth that possibility.

Representatives from the Wyoming County Clerk’s Association presented a memorandum detailing their response to the bill, generally supporting it but highlighting one particular portion.

“Often, Wyoming’s County Clerks get the brunt of accusations when citizens believe some individuals are misrepresenting themselves as Wyoming residents. For instance, the presence of vehicles with out-of-state license plates at polling places has caused some to call into question the process by which county clerks validate a person’s residence – specifically on election day,” states the memorandum.

“In reality, the definition of “bona fide resident” of Wyoming is vague and difficult to definitively prove given current requirements. CCAW’s concern is that certain individuals believe the clerk and election staff are responsible for requiring proof of residence at the time of registration; however, this assumption is not supported by the Election Code. Being the target of these concerns and accusations has heightened our sensitivity to the vague definition of ‘bona fide resident,’ which is present in Wyoming, and many other states’, Election Codes.”

Senator Scott commented, “A general principle of legislation is that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and I don’t see any evidence that we’ve had real problems in this area. [But] I do think maybe the 30-day durational thing would stop a potential abuse – if, say, we had a particularly hot primary election for an office like U.S. Senate, I think we’re a little open to an organized campaign in one of our neighboring states to move a bunch of people very temporarily to Wyoming to vote in that election and have them disappear the day after an election, and I think this could put a stop to that.”

After lengthy discussion on the particulars, the committee voted to advance the bill to its next meeting, where it will be considered again with a couple of amendments made.

Crossover Voting

One bill discussed by the committee has received significant attention from the public over the last couple of weeks because it would amend new legislation that prevents crossover voting by not allowing citizens to switch parties during the time between filing dates opening and the primary.

The bill intends to close a “cancellation loophole” but, according to Senator Bill Langdon, it appears to have been misunderstood as an attempt to undo the law.

This is not the case, he said more than once. Rather, he stated, it is to protect the rights of first-time voters in Wyoming under this new law and does not alter the crossover voting prevention provisions.

The bill aims to ensure that electors who have not registered in Wyoming within the last year are not limited from declaring their party. Gray stated that it closes a “cancellation loophole” in which someone can simply cancel their registration and then register again under a new affiliation.

It does not apply to new registrants, he said.

He expressed two issues with the wording in its current form, which he said can actually be read as reinstituting the cancellation loophole and which he noted has technical implications due to the fact that work has already begun to make sure the implementation is complete in time for the 2024 election.

Discussion was held on the possibility of the bill removing the ability to unaffiliate from a party. This, said Senator Cale Case, is a First Amendment right.

The committee decided that, due to possible issues with the wording and Gray’s belief that these could not be solved without further research, the bill should receive more attention and work before being put forward to the full legislative body.

Private Funds

Another bill considered during the meeting would prohibit government and election officials from using private funds to conduct elections. All costs and expenses related to an election must be paid with public funds, aside from food provided in support of training and to poll workers on election day.

Violation of this law would be a felony punishable by five years of imprisonment, a $10,000 fine or both.

Gray spoke to “growing concerns” around the country about private funding of election administration and said $400 million had been funneled into 47 states by private groups citing COVID-19 needs such as masks and PPE, but a lot of it went towards “massive electioneering efforts”.

He expressed concerns about this being a “conduit” for foreign actors seeking to influence elections and for partisan influence.

“It’s important for us to get ahead of this,” he said. While he said he has not necessarily seen cases of it in Wyoming, it’s happening nationwide and one person accused of being involved is a Wyoming resident.

Representatives from the Wyoming County Clerk’s Association asked to clarify that the donation of polling places (such as waiving rental fees) or advertising (such as a PSA campaign to remind people about the need for voter ID) are not included. Additionally, special districts pay a share for ballot costs and the association would like it to be clear that this is still permissible.

The committee approved Scott’s proposed amendment to give the Secretary of State the discretion to exempt classes of special district from this rule, because special elections “can be very different animals”. He also proposed making it a minor misdemeanor instead of a felony, which was approved. The committee then moved to advance the bill to the floor during the next legislative session.

Campaign Contributions

The committee considered a joint resolution requesting Congress to propose a constitutional amendment identifying the source of political contributions. The language of the resolution expresses concern that corporations have abilities not enjoyed by individuals, such as enhanced accumulation of assets and perpetual life, and says state and local legislative bodies should have the authority to require identification of campaign expenditures and limit expenditures by entities that are not individual people.

The bill is a repeat of one that was put forth during this year’s session but died as both a committee and individual bill. Representative Ken Chestek spoke to this as an author of that bill and said the only reason he has been able to find for the bill’s failure was that it does not include unions, which would give them more power than corporations; he proposed an amendment to clarify that unions are included.

The committee moved to advance the bill to the floor during the next legislative session.

Additional Bills

Several additional bills were also discussed during the meeting.

The committee considered a bill that would clarify that a state legislator must have resided in his or her district for at least a year before the general election. The committee also voted to move this bill forward to the next legislative session.

A bill relating to school district trustees clarifies that the oath of office must be taken on or before the first day of December after receiving notification of their election, or within ten days of receiving notification of their appointment.

Gray, from whose office the bill came, explained that the bill addresses situations in which trustees are appointed and clears up an ambiguity between statutes.

With no discussion or amendments, the bill was moved forward to the legislative session.

The final bill considered is intended to address the need for disclosure and would clarify when groups are required to file as an organization for the purposes of campaign reporting.

It states that “organization” includes any group of two or more people who do not otherwise meet the definition of an organization but pool or otherwise jointly expends funds totaling more than $1000 for the purpose of raising money or for electioneering communications in any primary, general or special election.

However, the group will not be required to file as an organization if all members of the group are disclosed on electioneering communications and expenditure funding or all members of the group are immediate relatives.

The committee felt that this bill also requires more work and moved it forward to the next meeting.