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 account for ballots. Julie Friess (Fremont County Clerk) said her office uses “bipartisan teams of two to remove ballots and bring them into the county clerk’s office,” time‑stamps and reconciles counts daily, and has added physical hardening and software checks to limit misuse. Laramie County Clerk Deborah Lee told the committee her offices received “nearly 5,600 absentee ballots” through the drop box across the 2022 and 2024 cycles and said the boxes let clerks contact voters promptly to correct signature or affidavit problems.

Clerks across several counties reported that drop box use varies by county and that the boxes were used by voters of all parties and ages. Albany County Clerk Kayla White said her county’s drop box handled 2,680 ballots in 2022 and 1,499 in 2024, and that the footage requested under public records law was made available at the clerk’s office for inspection though she said no one had reviewed it on site. Teton County Clerk Maureen Murphy said her county had 649 drop‑box returns in 2024 and no complaints about the device’s security.

Proponents of the ban pressed two lines of argument: that unattended boxes create a discrete and avoidable chain‑of‑custody vulnerability, and that public confidence in elections is eroded by perceptions of risk. Witnesses including attorney Brian Shuck, representatives of Republican and election‑integrity groups, and some voters supported prohibition as a straightforward fix. Several speakers also referenced state statutes (participants discussed Wyoming statutes regarding receipt and handling of absentee ballots) and criminal provisions for tampering with ballots as considerations for enforcement.

Opponents — including county clerks, the League of Women Voters, the Equality State Policy Center, AARP Wyoming, the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union and other civic groups — urged maintaining local discretion. They argued that drop boxes are an optional method used by many voters, that clerks have adopted standard procedures and that eliminating boxes would reduce options for rural voters and shift ballots into a postal system whose capacity and timeliness they said have become less reliable in some rural areas. Several clerks and witnesses said many county drop boxes are bolted to concrete, under 24‑hour professional surveillance, emptied twice daily by bipartisan teams and reconciled against voter request lists using the counties’ ballot‑tracking processes.

Committee members questioned both sides about specifics: how many counties used drop boxes (witnesses said roughly seven of Wyoming’s 23 counties had used them in recent cycles), whether in‑building or behind‑the‑counter boxes should be treated differently, how footage would be made available and whether a rejected ballot policy should allow a voter a second opportunity to cure a ballot improperly delivered. Clerk witnesses asked for explicit statutory language to protect county election staff who are sworn election judges or designees and asked the committee to clarify whether a clerk’s “designee” could accept ballots. Clerks also urged that, if the committee moves to ban unattended boxes, the statute should not unintentionally block secure drop locations inside clerk offices.

No committee vote on final passage was recorded in the transcript. Committee members indicated there would be further hearings and that some housekeeping and amendment language (including a Committee‑of‑the‑Whole amendment from the House) would need revision to reflect the committee’s intent (for example, clarifying the terms “clerk,” “county clerk” and “election staff/designee” in several places).

The committee heard several personal testimony threads from voters who use or oppose drop boxes: some said drop boxes were essential to their ability to deliver ballots given work schedules, mobility limitations or rural mail delays; others said they had seen or feared instances of ballot stuffing and preferred mail or hand delivery to a clerk. Witnesses on both sides asked the committee to weigh local control, documented county procedures, and rural access when deciding whether to ban unattended drop boxes statewide.

Committee members signaled follow‑up work on statutory language and implementation questions, including whether to explicitly allow drop boxes behind counters or in locked clerk offices, how to define “designee” or “election staff,” and whether a statute should provide a voter a chance to cure a ballot that was improperly delivered. The committee did not take final action on HB 131 during the recorded hearing and planned further consideration when it reconvened.