Wyoming committee hears hours of divided testimony on bill to ban unattended ballot drop boxes

Representative Christopher Knapp (House District 53) opened the committee discussion of House Bill 131 by framing the issue as one of three election‑integrity priorities: “the ability to vote, the chain of custody, and the ability to audit,” and said the bill targets the chain‑of‑custody risk posed by unattended drop boxes.

The measure would prohibit county clerks, county public employees or election officials from establishing or using drop boxes “for the purpose of collecting absentee ballots,” and would bar electors from delivering absentee ballots through any drop box. Knapp and other proponents said that because drop boxes are not specifically authorized in Wyoming statute they should be banned rather than codified with rules.

Secretary of State Chuck Gray told the committee he was “a huge supporter” of the ban and urged Wyoming to join 11 states that have already prohibited unattended drop boxes. Citing examples from other states, Gray described incidents — from alleged tampering to arson attacks — he said illustrate the vulnerability of unstaffed boxes and argued the U.S. Postal Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service provide a more consistent enforcement and penalty framework for mailed ballots.

County clerks, the County Clerks Association representative Mary Langford and several individual county clerks, countered that many Wyoming counties have used drop boxes for years under local procedures and that they employ chain‑of‑custody practices, video surveillance and bipartisan teams to empty and…