Wyoming Senate committee advances election-transparency bill after amendments

Senate File 190, a package of election-related measures including a requirement that paper ballots be the default in Wyoming and a proof-of-U.S.-citizenship requirement for voter registration, was advanced out of the Senate Corporations, Elections & Political Subdivisions Committee after floor sponsors and county clerks negotiated several amendments and the committee voted to report the bill with amendments.

The bill’s sponsor summarized the measure as three primary elements: a default to paper ballots at precincts, shortening in-person early voting to two weeks in the original draft, and documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register. “Because paper ballots do provide a tangible auditable record of every vote cast, reducing the risk of electronic manipulation,” the sponsor said in committee testimony.

Clerks and voting-rights groups told the committee some provisions needed revision. Mary Lankford, representing the county clerks, said the package folded multiple House bills together and urged the committee to preserve local practices and operational feasibility. Laramie County Clerk Deborah Lee, who described the county’s use of ballot-marking devices that print auditable paper ballots, said switching Laramie County back to pen-and-paper as a default would “completely change our operations” and could cost “as much as a hundred to a hundred and 50,000.”

“The equipment has been used statewide since 2020,” Lee said, arguing the county’s touch-screen ballot-marking devices produce a printed paper ballot that is both…