House passes bill adding election hand‑count rules; $300,000 training amendment adopted

The Wyoming House on third reading approved House Bill 52 after a day of amendments and floor debate over post‑election hand counts and implementation costs. Representative Brady introduced an amendment intended to define precinct‑level hand‑count procedures and said the purpose was to create a uniform audit process; that amendment was not adopted. Representative Harrelson’s amendment, which included a $300,000 appropriation to the Secretary of State for county clerk training and volunteer hand‑count crews, was adopted on a roll‑call vote.

Why it matters: HB52 addresses how hand counts, when used as an audit, will be handled at the precinct level. Supporters argued the changes fill a statutory gap — Wyoming law, they said, has detailed rules for voting machines but lacked a uniform process for…