JACKSON, Wyo. — Wyoming’s interim Secretary of State, Karl Allred, recently sent a letter to County Clerk offices across the state, requesting the clerks “voluntarily discontinue” the use of absentee ballot drop boxes.
Governor Mark Gordon appointed Allred as interim Secretary of State on Sept. 29, after Ed Buchanan resigned on Sept. 15. Buchanan was appointed as District Court Judge for the Eighth Judicial District. Allred was sworn in on October 3. The letter sent to the County Clerks is dated Oct. 7.
Seven of the 23 Wyoming counties use drop boxes including Teton, Albany, Big Horn, Converse, Fremont, Laramie and Sweetwater.
In the letter, Allred noted that he did not want to cause confusion, as early voting is already in progress, but asked for “an honest assessment” by the clerks. He also noted that no issues have been reported with the drop boxes but that it “does not alleviate the potential for abuse or destruction of ballots through use of fire or other means.”
“The previous administration under Secretary Buchanan interpreted Wyo. Stat. § 22-9-113 means that “delivered to the clerk” encompassed the use of a drop box that was at or near your office or the county courthouse. Though I have a different understanding of what “delivered to the clerk” means, I respect this prior understanding and direction,” Allred said.
Teton County Clerk Maureen Murphy confirmed via email that she had received the letter from Allred but had not had a chance to speak with him directly yet. Murphy said she will not remove the county’s ballot box, located outside of the Teton County Administration building.
“We have many voters that depend on the ability to drop off their ballots on weekends and/or after we are closed in the evening. The ballot box at the Administration building has always been under 24-hour surveillance and is directly outside of our front door,” Murphy said.
In the letter, Allred suggested that if clerks continue to use drop boxes, they should be under 24-hour surveillance, the ballots retrieved at the end of each day, and the date, time and number of ballots be recorded appropriately in their chain of custody logs; which is a practice that is common when using ballot boxes.
Murphy said her office has always completed a chain of custody log and collected ballots daily, and sometimes twice daily.
According to Murphy, the ballots are counted first outside at the box and logged with the date, time and initialed by two staffed election workers. Ballots are then locked in a transport box, brought downstairs, counted again and dated and stamped that they have been received. Ballots are then entered into the system that they have been returned and locked back in a separate box, all of which are sealed multiple times.
“Teton County has experienced zero issues or complaints about our ballot box located at the Administration building,” Murphy said.
It does not appear that any of the seven counties using ballot boxes will remove them during this election cycle.
More information on early/absentee voting in Teton County is available here.
