CHEYENNE — The line to cast a ballot at Laramie County Clerk’s Office on Friday not only stretched far outside the building, but also down part of the street once reaching the curb.
It was the same on Thursday, Wednesday and every weekday this week.
An elections staffer told Cowboy State Daily that it was taking people as long as 30 minutes to wait in line and cast their votes.
This isn’t a trend isolated to the capital city, as every county election department Cowboy State Daily reached out to across Wyoming on Friday said they were particularly busy.
With the election 11 days away, many Wyoming voters are casting their ballots early for the historic presidential election between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
General elections during presidential years historically draw the highest turnout, and this year looks like it will be no different in Wyoming, particularly considering the low bar this year’s primary turnout set. The August primary in Wyoming saw the lowest turnout for a primary election since 2016.
It’s unclear if early voting turnout this year will exceed what was seen in 2020, or if the overall turnout will be higher. That year, a record number of absentee ballots were filled out during the COVID-19 pandemic that was going on at the time of the election.
Around The State
Natrona County Clerk Tracy Good said early turnout in her county has been particularly strong, with 4,781 people casting their ballots in person so far. That number only includes people who voted early in-person and doesn’t include absentee ballots.
“The last few days have been hot and heavy,” Good said. “It’s a good problem to have.”
Good said they’ve been receiving an average of 400-450 early voters a day and expect this to increase to around 800 per day in the last few days before the election.
“It’s continuing to get busier as the election gets closer,” she said.
Still, the lines have remained manageable at their courthouse in Casper, where Good said it’s still taking people longer to fill out their ballots than wait in line.
“During COVID, the lines were unbelievable,” she said.
For the general election in Natrona County in 2020, there were 8,108 people who either voted early or cast an absentee ballot there. In 2022, 4,267 people voted early or absentee.
Participation has also been high in Sweetwater County, where 1,807 people cast an early ballot over the last two weeks, a total elections clerk Kelly Williams described as “above average.” During the primary, only around 900 people cast an early ballot in Sweetwater.
In Niobrara County, which has the smallest population in the state, County Clerk Becky Freeman said they were “just swamped right now,” when reached Friday afternoon. Niobrara has been receiving about 10-14 early voters per day and 157 early ballots submitted as of Friday, not including absentees. Freeman expects the final early voting tally to be slightly less than what they saw in 2020.
Niobrara, like many other small counties, doesn’t have a dedicated elections department, so the clerks' staff must all chip in when each election rolls around.
In Uinta County, Clerk Amanda Hutchinson said her county has also seen a huge early turnout.
As of Friday, more than 1,200 people cast an early ballot in-person. This compares to the 700-800 who either cast an early ballot or voted by absentee there for the primary. Hutchinson also believes this number likely exceeds the early voter turnout seen at this point for the general election in 2020.
She said the lines in her county are only about 5-10 minutes long.
“We always say we do the same amount of work no matter how many people participate, so we’d just as soon would prefer everyone would show up and vote,” Hutchinson said.
In Johnson County, 686 people had voted early in-person as of Friday. In addition, of the 477 absentee ballots sent out, Clerk Jackie Camino said a significant portion had already been returned.
In the primary, Johnson only saw 790 ballots submitted in total.
At their courthouse, Camino said they’ve seen lines of about 10-15 minutes.
Anthony Serrano, ACLU of Wyoming advocacy director, said he’s thrilled with the turnout so far.
“We’re thrilled to see so many people turning out to cast their ballots early. Many of us have experienced an Election Day where family, work or other obligations made it difficult, if not impossible, to get to the polls,” he said. “Early voting helps reduce long lines on Election Day that may discourage voters from exercising their right, or make it impossible if they must return to work. It can also reduce burdens on election officials and staff.”
The line for early voting at the Laramie County Clerk's Office in Cheyenne was out the door and onto the sidewalk on Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (Greg Johnson, Cowboy State Daily) 
The line for early voting at the Laramie County Clerk's Office in Cheyenne was out the door and onto the sidewalk on Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (Greg Johnson, Cowboy State Daily) 
A ballot drop box outside the Laramie County Clerk's Office in Cheyenne. (Greg Johnson, Cowboy State Daily)
Still No Guarantee
The last presidential election in 2020 had the most votes cast in Wyoming history with 278,503. This year’s primary was much lower at 122,718, representing only about 27% of the eligible voters in the state casting a ballot, and 52% of people registered to vote on Sept. 1.
None of the recent early voting totals represent any guarantee that overall voter turnout will be higher than in the past in November, as many people may be choosing to vote earlier than who voted on Election Day in the past.
Also, early voting only represents a fraction of the total voting populace that still overwhelmingly waits until Election Day to turn out. In Natrona County, only 23% of the ballots cast in the general election in 2020 were early or absentee, even including the COVID-influenced push.
In the 2022 general election in Natrona County, 22,955 people cast a ballot. In 2020, that number was 35,391.
Good said she would be surprised if more people cast a ballot this year in Natrona County than 2020.
Hutchinson also believes the early voting numbers might be inflated by the shorter, 28-day window for voting people now have in Wyoming. This is the first election since the early voting period was reduced from 45 days during the 2023 legislative session.
“People are being squished into less days,” she said.
But Hutchinson did say she views the early voting trends as a positive sign after the paltry participation in August.
“People are excited to come and vote and put their opinions on paper,” she said.
Wyoming law requires that all early ballots be turned in by Election Day.
On Friday, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that all ballots nationwide must be received by Election Day.
Secretary of State Chuck Gray called it a “huge, important win for election integrity” in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
“I commend the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for their common-sense decision,” he said in a press release.
Ballot Drop Boxes Getting Used
Williams also said many of the early voters in Sweetwater have been taking advantage of the county’s ballot drop box, located outside the courthouse in Green River, but under the watchful eye of a 24-hour surveillance camera.
Natrona County doesn’t have ballot drop boxes but does have a ballot box inside the county courthouse where people can submit their ballots.
“I don’t like change, I just like to have it sitting within the office,” Good said.
Ballot drop boxes have been a controversial topic in recent elections, with Gray vowing to ban them as part of his 2022 campaign. They’re still being used in Wyoming however, and the state of Wisconsin recently made them legal again after they were initially banned there in 2022.
During a press conference on Thursday, the The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency told Cowboy State Daily it stands behind ballot drop boxes, which it sees as an effective mechanism to increase voter participation in America.
Although Johnson County doesn’t offer a ballot drop box, Camino said she would strongly consider adding one in the future.
“I’m not sure if I’m giving every voter an opportunity to vote if I don’t provide one,” she said.
Serrano said lawmakers in Wyoming should be focused on improving voter access, not restricting it. Many Republicans like Gray have warned that Wyoming’s elections need to be made more secure to effectively prevent fraud and illegal voting, despite there being almost no reported cases of either in the Cowboy State.
“Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, a liberal or a conservative, you should want a fair system,” he said. “Adding barriers to how we vote — whether that’s in person on Election Day or early with an absentee ballot limits the ability of all Wyomingites to participate in democracy.”
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
