Election day was smooth, but Gray still wants reform

The primary election presented few issues for Wyoming – and none that needed the attention of the state canvasing board. Secretary of State Chuck Gray nevertheless took the opportunity last week to call for further election integrity reform.

"I want to take this opportunity to say this was a great election and I want to thank the county clerks, election judges, poll watchers and other volunteers that made the 2024 primary election a success," Gray said as the board convened on Wednesday to certify the results.

However, he also stated, "We are always working on improving our elections. I think there's definitely some reforms that could be made to make our elections better and better."

According to a presentation from Elections Division Director CJ Young, a couple of concerns were addressed prior to the election, either with the county clerks or by contacting the vendor responsible for the ballot machines and the United States Election Assistance Commission.

Election day itself ran smoothly across Wyoming and only two minor problems cropped up, neither of which required board action.

In Sweetwater County, a machine jammed during tabulation, which was resolved through re-tabulation on a different machine and an update to the official results. In Lincoln County, an election judge removed a USB stick prematurely and corrupted the data; the ballots were secured and re-run on a pre-tested machine.

"These moments highlight that, whenever issues arise, we're committed to addressing them. There are contingencies in place for election incidents and we have trainings and exercises around the year to prepare the staff for these difficult situations," he said.

This was the third election requiring voters to present ID, which Gray called a "very important election integrity reform passed in 2021", and the first since the law stopping crossover voting came in effect.

It was also, he said, the first primary with early and absentee voting reduced from 45 to 28 days, except for active military members.

Among the ideas Gray expressed for further reform, he stated that Wyoming already requires proof of identity, but needs to go further.

"One of the things we've been wanting to work on is proof of residency and proof of citizenship for registering to vote," he said.

"...Chief among the institutions being threatened by the endless wave of immigration are our elections."

Gray said his office penned rules in 2023 to address this that received "overwhelming support from the public" but were vetoed by Governor Mark Gordon.

Gray also called for durational residency requirements and said he had rescinded authorization for counties to use ballot dropboxes.

One of the small number of public commenters spoke against the need for more reform, however.

Marissa Carpio of the Equality State Policy Center, a nonprofit coalition committed to fair elections and transparent government, spoke during a public comment period to question the push for reform.

"Calling new laws like the crossover deadline and shortening the absentee period 'election integrity reforms' is disingenuous," she said.

"These measurers were voter suppression tactics and the extremely low turnout in the primary election confirms that."

The primary did see low turnout across Wyoming. Just 54% of registered voters cast a ballot, according to Young; turnout in Crook County was 48%.

Gray, however, felt that the low turnout was due to the ban on crossover voting and "biased media coverage".