More than one-fifth of Wyoming’s registered voters have already cast their ballots for the upcoming general election.
According to Monique Meese, spokesperson for the Wyoming Secretary of State’s office, 55,755 votes have already been cast for November’s general election, including votes from those who have returned their absentee ballots or who cast their votes in person at an early polling place.
As of Wednesday morning, there were 252,422 registered voters in the state.
Nearly 40% of Wyoming’s registered voters have requested absentee ballots, totaling 95,528 requested as of Monday.
Absentee voting officially began in the state on Sept. 18 and will continue until Nov. 2. Absentee ballots can be requested through a resident’s local county clerk office.
However, it should be noted that there is a difference between absentee and early voting. Absentee voting allows a person to vote by mail, while early voting means showing up to a polling location (usually a county clerk’s office or other designated venue) and using a voting machine, just like on Election Day, only without the long lines.
Early voting is available throughout the state and usually means a shorter wait time, which this writer proved on Wednesday by only taking 10 minutes to vote, from getting in line to walking out of the Laramie County Governmental Complex.
To vote early, I went to the complex, which had a sign pointing to the voting location in the building. I got in line behind about five or so other people (there were probably about 10 voting machines in the area), but the line moved quickly.
I checked in with a poll worker, told them my name and address and got my ballot. The only thing that held me up was changing my address, so I likely could have shaved my wait and vote time down to five minutes if that wasn’t needed.
From there, I picked up my voting stick (Laramie County is asking people to use small sticks to touch the screen, so as to avoid any potential coronavirus spread) and headed to the machine. Voting was pretty effortless, and I even got a wonderful Louisa Swain sticker for being a Wyoming woman voting.
If you can take advantage of early voting, I would recommend it. Why stand in line and be held up on Election Day when you can avoid the hassle?
Every county clerk’s office will act as an early voting location across Wyoming, but it is up to the office to determine if more early voting stations will be established in their counties.
Here is a list of each of the county clerk offices in Wyoming and their addresses:
- Albany County: 502 Grand Ave., Suit 202, Laramie
- Big Horn County: County Courthouse, 420 C St., Basin
- Campbell County: 500 S. Gillette Ave., Gillette
- Carbon County: 415 W. Pine St., Rawlins
- Converse County: 107 N. Fifth St., Suite 114, Douglas
- Crook County: 309 Cleveland St., Sundance
- Fremont County: 450 N. Second St., Lander
- Goshen County: 2125 E. A St., Torrington
- Hot Springs County: 415 Arapahoe St., Thermopolis
- Johnson County: 76 N. Main St., Buffalo
- Laramie County: 309 W. 20th St., Cheyenne
- Lincoln County: 925 Sage Ave., Suite 101, Kemmerer
- Natrona County: 200 N. Center St., Casper
- Niobrara County: 424 S. Elm St., Lusk
- Park County: 1002 Sheridan St., Cody
- Platte County: 800 Ninth St., Wheatland
- Sheridan County: 224 S. Main St., Suite B-2, Sheridan
- Sublette County: 21 S. Tyler Ave., Pinedale
- Sweetwater County: 80 W. Flaming Gorge Way, Suite 150, Green River
- Teton County: 200 S. Willow St., Jackson
- Uinta County: 225 Ninth St., Evanston
- Washakie County: 1001 Big Horn Ave., Worland
- Weston County: 1 West Main St., Newcastle
