Committee hears hours of testimony on HB 215 amid deep split over replacing machines with hand counts; consideration continued

The Corporations, Elections & Political Subdivisions Committee took extended testimony on House Bill 215, a measure that would substantially change how votes are tabulated in Wyoming by emphasizing hand counting and limiting the role of electronic voting machines. Lawmakers did not vote on the bill and agreed to continue consideration at a later committee meeting.

Malcolm Mervin, who identified himself as the Platte County Clerk and representative of the County Clerks Association, told the committee counties oppose HB 215 because of cost and operational concerns. He pointed to existing statutory processes (he cited Wyoming Statute 22-10-110) for challenging testing and urged incremental fixes instead of wholesale change. He told members the clerks prefer House Bill 232, which he said adds tools for hand recounts and measured implementation.

Several election-integrity advocates testified in favor of HB 215. Jill Kaufman of the Platte County Integrity Group described outreach and presentations by cyber experts and said residents and local officials remain "uneasy with these machines." Richard Weber of BCR Voter Initiatives argued the state had widespread failures of logic-and-accuracy tests during the 2024 cycle and said removing machines through HB 215 would "get rid of all these lawsuits, get rid of... programming." Weber framed the measure as protection for clerks, candidates and the state from post-election litigation.

Secretary of State Chuck Gray said he supports the "concept" of the bill and praised other related proposals, including Representative Harrelson's recount bill and Representative Lucas's precinct-level random-audit proposal (HB 217). Gray described the Weston County anomaly in 2024 — a very high undervote rate in one race — and said it illustrated the need for verification and backup methods. He testified that while the machine contract contains restrictions, the office has talked with the vendor about examination and constituent parts.

County clerks and election administrators provided empirical testimony about the practical costs and time required for hand counts. Campbell County Clerk Cindy Lovelace presented results from two hand-count trial runs: one simulation (1,110 ballots, 40 volunteers, 6.75 hours) where only 4 of 10 teams completed their assigned ballots in the allotted time; and a second trial (one highly trained four-person team) that counted 249 ballots in four hours. The facilitators' projections Lovelace provided estimate the number of hand counters needed to process Campbell County's general election could range from roughly 536 to more than 2,200 people, with projected per-election costs from about $98,496 to $1,378,620 depending on training assumptions.

Other witnesses opposed HB 215. Marguerite Herman of the League of Women Voters said Wyoming's current system, which she described as paper ballots scanned by machines for tabulation, is secure and that hand counting "in 99% of the cases is just impractical" and may increase error, delay results and risk ballot security. The Equality State Policy Center's executive director, Jenny Desaro, also opposed the bill, saying mechanized election systems are trustworthy and that hand counting would lengthen result delivery and introduce greater potential for mistakes or bias.

Committee members asked technical questions about test decks, who prepares them, and whether machine vendors permit physical inspection of devices. Secretary Gray said clerks are statutorily responsible for testing; some clerks prepare test decks themselves while others rely on the vendor. He said the office and the vendor have discussed examinations, and that some constituent parts of machines may not be domestically produced.

After lengthy testimony from clerks, county officials, civic groups and the Secretary of State, Chairman Knapp told members the bill would be carried over for further work and additional public testimony at the committee's next meeting. No formal vote on HB 215 occurred during the hearing.