The Corporations, Elections & Political Subdivisions Committee voted to sponsor 26 LSO 0040, a bill to require paper ballots that are hand-marked with pens, after extended discussion about effective dates and county-level implementation.

Committee members debated whether the law should take effect immediately upon the governor’s signature or be delayed to give county clerks more time. Senator Bullock moved to sponsor the draft; Senator Bullock’s motion was seconded and put to a roll call. Opponents cautioned the change could “completely upend Laramie County's elections,” citing an email from Deborah Lee, Laramie County clerk, read into the record by lobbyist Mary Langford. Langford quoted Lee as saying the county would need additional equipment, storage and staff and that “this would be a significant increase in cost to the county.”

The clerk of Laramie County’s concerns prompted several members to press for a later effective date so counties could implement changes without disrupting an in-progress election cycle. Senator Landon and others said Wyoming’s elections have long been held in high regard and warned against imposing state-level changes that would “ride over the top” of locally run systems. Representative Brown, whose district includes Laramie County, said, “Laramie County is my county, and, my constituents overwhelmingly wanna see us go to paper ballots,” arguing for moving ahead to reflect local preference.

The committee considered an amendment to set the effective date to Jan. 1, 2027, but that amendment failed on a raise-of-hands vote. A later amendment to make the bill effective immediately upon the governor’s signature was approved. Following the vote on effective dates, Representative Brown moved that the committee pass the bill as a committee bill; the motion passed on roll call and the committee recorded the bill as sponsored by the committee.

The debate underscored two recurring themes: (1) county clerks’ operational capacity and the logistics of switching modes of voting; and (2) the tension between state policy change and local control. Proponents argued many jurisdictions already use compatible tabulation machines and that some counties administer hand-marked paper ballots for absentee voting, while critics said Laramie County’s scale and current equipment, storage and staffing made an immediate switch impractical without major expense and planning.

Committee members said implementation details will be refined as the bill advances. The committee did not take up further technical amendments during this session.

Votes at a glance: the committee sponsored 26 LSO 0040 and advanced it as a committee bill after approving an amendment making it effective immediately on enactment. The roll-call recorded members voting Aye: (names as recorded in roll call) Senator (name not specified), Senator Dockstader, Senator Landon, Senator Steinmetz, Representative Brown, Representative Heft, Representative Johnson, Representative Locke, Representative Lucas, Representative Webb, Representative Weber, Chairman Knapp; No: Representative Yin, Co-chairman Case.

Outlook: The bill will proceed as a committee-sponsored draft to the next stage of the legislative process, with implementation details to be addressed in subsequent committee work and potential amendments.