Bills banning ballot drop boxes, touch-screen voting machines fail in Senate
CHEYENNE — Some of Secretary of State Chuck Gray's election integrity bills died Friday night after failing to pass first reading in the Wyoming Senate, including two that threatened to 'upend' Laramie County elections, according to County Clerk Debra Lee.
A large number of election-related bills were filed this session, making up 8% of total proposed legislation, according to WyoFile.com.
House Bill 245, 'Pen and paper ballots,' would have removed touch-screen voting machines that have been used by Laramie County voters for decades. Lee previously told lawmakers this bill would 'upend' elections in her county.
'We've been using these for decades,' Lee said in a House committee. 'They don't know how to mark a paper ballot, I have to be honest.'
Another failed bill, HB 131, 'Ballot drop boxes-prohibition,' would have created a statewide ban on ballot drop boxes. Lee and several other county clerks argued that the removal of ballot drop boxes could disenfranchise qualified electors from participating in Wyoming elections.
Lee previously told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle she received a lot of correspondence from voters who were grateful for the ballot drop box outside the Laramie County Governmental Complex.
'They could deliver their ballot securely, they could deliver it independently,' Lee said. 'Some of them had health concerns, and they really were glad that they were able to get that ballot to us without having to come into the office.'
Gray's election priorities
Before the start of the session, Gray told members of the press he was working closely with lawmakers to promote his election integrity priorities this legislative session.
These priorities included requiring proof of voter residency and U.S. citizenship, a statewide ban on ballot drop boxes, a ban on ballot harvesting, requiring 'true' photo ID, a ban on Zuckerbucks, improving voter list maintenance statutes and requiring hand verification of voting machines.
In a January news release, Gray added four more priorities, including adding a durational residency requirement, a default to paper ballots and banning foreign funding of elections and ballot measures.
The secretary of state celebrated a victory on Monday, after HB 156, 'Proof of voter residency-registration qualifications,' successfully passed the Legislature and headed toward Gov. Mark Gordon's desk.
Sponsored by Wyoming Freedom Caucus chairman emeritus Rep. John Bear, R-Gillette, HB 156 creates a new 30-day residency rule in order to vote in Wyoming elections and includes a requirement of proof of U.S. citizenship.
'Only United States citizens, and only Wyomingites, should be voting in Wyoming elections. Period,' Gray said in a news release. 'With the passage of this landmark legislation, Wyoming will further cement our commitment to election integrity, as the only state to require proof of citizenship for all elections, an important priority of President Trump.
'I urge the Governor to sign this common-sense, conservative piece of election integrity legislation.'
Several House bills that ban Zuckerbucks and other third-party funding administrations, improve voter maintenance list statutes and prohibit rank choice voting are still making their way through the session.
However, Gray expressed his disappointment over the other election bills that failed to pass the Senate.
'Despite a lot of the good work we have been able to achieve and continue to achieve, I am disappointed that seven key election integrity bills were not heard on Friday,' Gray said in an email to the WTE. 'All of these passed overwhelmingly in the House of Representatives, were heard and passed the Senate Corporations(, Elections and Political Subdivisions) Committee, and died before they could be heard in the Senate.'
Correction: This story originally said that a majority of Secretary of State Chuck Gray's election reform priorities had died. Since he expanded the original list of six to 10 in January, that was incorrect. In fact, six of the 10 passed this session and are awaiting action by the governor.
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