CHEYENNE — It appears Wyoming voters will not be confronted with hand-counted ballots this year.
That fate was a possibility for a spell there when Republicans of the hard right variety questioned the validity of pre-election balloting tests on machines by the Laramie County clerk’s office.
They also suggested it might be necessary to have an alternative vote-counting method.
Translation: hand-counting.
Hand counting of ballots is a national movement in red Republican states like Wyoming, according to various internet sources.
It also is a very, very slow process that required sizable increases in the staffs of election offices and the infusion of big bucks.
It also is not very accurate. The human counters get tired. They lose track. They need lots of breaks.
The countless hand counts ordered after the challenge of the 2020 presidential election triggered this movement. But it did not change the outcome.
Delayed election results can be a danger to democracies, according to political science experts.
This is because every time someone questions the validity of an election system, it plants a tiny seed of doubt.
And that seed grows and encourages conspiracy theories and distrust in the democratic election process.
“With growing calls for hand counting by red-leaning counties, it will be crucial that states and local election offices throughout the country stay steadfast in ensuring ballots are only counted by hand in the limited circumstances where experts have deemed the process necessary.”
This recent advice is from the web site Verified Voting, which identifies itself as nonpartisan and nonprofit with no financial interest in election equipment manufacturing.
Verified Voting emphasizes it is referring to hand-counting all ballots right after an election, not the hand counting in a post audit to confirm the results.
My first exposure to election eve reporting was as a statehouse reporter in Cheyenne decades ago.
It was a drag. We reporters hung out at the county clerk’s office beginning in early evening.
The returns came in ever so slowly, one precinct at a time, then a crush later.
Finally at about midnight the last returns came in from one of the more remote precincts in the county.
Two tired-looking older women in tennis shoes came into the courthouse carrying shoeboxes of ballots. We were delighted to see them so we could go home.
By then many of our deadlines were long past and we had no wrap up story until the following day, if then.
Voters had to wait for election results sometimes for days.
We thought the entry of voting machines was great, despite the bugs in the beginning.
It was a good thing.
To me, the national right wing movement to hand-counting ballots is yet another example of the attempt to go back to last mid-century politics and culture in voter access and voters rights — among other rights.
Without progress, you stagnate.
NOTE: I goofed a couple of weeks ago and Wyoming will indeed have a property tax constitutional amendment on the Nov. 2024 ballot that would allow the Legislature to revise the property tax categories.
This Legislative-approved amendment holds the best prospect of significant reform for residential property.
Thanks to former state Sen. Rex Arney of Sheridan for pointing out the error.
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Contact Joan Barron at 307-632-2534 or jmbarron@bresnan.net
