Ban On Ballot Drop Boxes In Wyoming Slowly Moving Forward In Legislature

A ban on ballot drop boxes appears to still be slowly moving forward in the Wyoming Legislature.

Although they didn’t take a vote on it on Friday, multiple members of the Senate Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee told Cowboy State Daily they plan to support a ban on ballot drop boxes in Wyoming but plan to make significant changes to House Bill 131 as written.

Specifically, two of the swing votes on the committee, state Sen. Brian Boner, R-Douglas, and Sen. Dan Dockstader, R-Afton, both told Cowboy State Daily they plan to support the bill when it’s heard again next Wednesday, but not before significant changes are made to it.

Boner said he wants to try and find a solution that alleviates both concerns about the security of the boxes and allows people who work long work hours like oilfield workers to still have an easy way to cast their vote.

“We’re looking to amend the bill to alleviate some of the concerns of the committee,” he said.

Dockstader said he would support the bill “with amendments.” During testimony, one change he suggested would be to restrict the boxes to being located inside courthouses.

This would defeat one of the core purposes of having the boxes, which are designed to provide voters a way to cast their ballot outside the time that the courthouses are open.

Rep. Chris Knapp, R-Gillette, the sponsor of HB 131, expressed skepticism about how much time would be saved if the boxes were continued to be allowed to exist but had to be located in the courthouses.

“You might as well just hand it (ballot) to somebody and have that chain of custody so you know from point A to point B, your vote is secure,” he said. “If you’ve taken the time to go all the way into the courthouse, you might as well just drop off at the elections office and hand it to a clerk.”

But another purpose of the boxes would still exist, allowing voters a quick and easy way to vote who don’t have the time to fill out a ballot early in person at the polls or on Election Day, or would rather not mail their ballot in.

As currently written and passed by the House on a 51-10 vote, the bill would ban all ballot drop boxes in Wyoming no matter their location. During the last election cycle, seven counties in Wyoming offered the ballot drop boxes outside their county courthouses. Although unattended, all had various forms of security measures in place, including video surveillance.

An interesting nuance of the bill is that although Natrona County only offered a ballot drop box located within its elections office last year, this box would also be banned if the bill passes into law as currently written.

Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper, told Cowboy State Daily he’s still unsure if he’ll vote in support of the bill because of this issue.

Why Ban Them?

Secretary of State Chuck Gray testified in support of the bill on Friday.

“There are inherent risks in relying on drop boxes, which could undermine public trust in elections and compromise the secure handling of ballots,” he said.

Gray, who has consistently supported banning the boxes, believes this was the biggest issue of his 2022 election campaign.

“It was by far the issue that defined my race in my opinion,” he said.

Ballot boxes came under fire after they were used en masse during the 2020 election and President Donald Trump launched his ensuing attempts to overturn the results of that election.

There have been no proven instances of fraud involving the boxes in Wyoming.

Gray said the process of mailing an early absentee ballot should suffice for people who can’t cast their ballot in-person.

Last month, the Postal Regulatory Commission issued an advisory opinion that was very critical of the U.S. Postal Service’s Delivering for America Plan. Rural populations won’t be receiving first-class mail for six or more days under the plan, the commission says.

A few of the people who testified on Friday expressed concern that the boxes could provide a mechanism for ballot harvesting, the process of having one person submit many other people’s ballots at one time.

Ballot harvesting is actually fully legal in Wyoming right now but a separate bill is being considered in the Legislature to ban this practice, outside of the submission of ballots for family members and the elderly at a residential care facility.

Malcolm Ervin, president of the County Clerks’ Association of Wyoming and the Platte County clerk, said Wyoming clerks haven’t received any complaints from absentee voters that their ballot was returned by someone who they did not authorize to submit it.

A handful of county clerks, including Ervin, testified on Friday, all expressing confidence in the security of the ballot boxes. None of the clerks representing counties that offered the boxes in the last election cycle said they had received any complaints about the boxes.

Voter Suppression?

Many of those who spoke against HB 131 on Friday expressed concerns about voter participation being stifled as a result of the bill. Thousands of people utilized the boxes statewide during the last election cycle.

Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, queued into this point, asking Knapp if the right to vote is as important as the right to bear arms and then asking which is more important.

“If we put restrictions on the right to bear arms, that would be a serious matter, and if we put restrictions on the right to vote … what if those restrictions discourage people from voting in some way?” Case posed. “Like they would maybe be discouraged from a constitutional right to bear arms.”

Knapp said the right to a constitutional liberty doesn’t mean it comes without certain restrictions to make sure everyone is able to take advantage of it.

“When it comes to the right to vote, that’s one of our fundamental rights as a country, that’s why we’re able to have a republic,” Knapp said. “When you cast a ballot, you want to be able to ensure that ballot is counted.”

What Issues?

As a result of former Secretary of State Ed Buchanan’s directive formally allowing the boxes in 2020, the clerks established a set of guidelines for how they should be managed, including mandatory video surveillance and the requirement they be bolted to the ground.

The Clerks Association also recently filed a public records request with the Secretary of State’s office, which showed that no formal complaints have ever been lodged about the drop boxes.

Wheatland resident Mark Kauffman, who has also been one of the main proponents for banning voting machines in Wyoming, dismissed this argument and accused the clerks of disregarding and failing to acknowledge informal complaints made through emails and calls about the boxes. He believes the clerks have purposely withheld telling him he needs to file formal complaints but plans to change that with a “flood” of submissions next year.

“It just appears to me that the clerks do their own thing at their own time whenever they want it, and we have nothing to say about it,” he said.

Discussions and a vote on HB 131 will take place next Wednesday.

Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.