Wyoming Prepared for Primary Election
Written by broebling on August 17, 2018
CHEYENNE, WY – With days to go before Primary Election Day 2018, the Secretary of State’s Office is reminding voters that they can be confident in the accuracy and fairness of Wyoming elections. The office is encouraging voters to cast their ballots on Election Day, Tuesday, August 21st, 2018.
“Next Tuesday, the citizens of Wyoming should not hesitate to head to the polls because they alone will decide the outcome of Wyoming’s Primary Election. I can assure voters that their votes will be counted accurately and with integrity. My team will continue to work closely with state and federal homeland security officials and our county clerks to ensure that Wyoming’s elections are secure from beginning to end,” said State Election Director Kai Schon.
The Wyoming Secretary of State’s Technology and Election Divisions hosted county officials and state cybersecurity and homeland security officials for a national virtual cybersecurity exercise on Monday, August 13th. The exercise was facilitated by the Department of Homeland Security and included officials from multiple federal agencies and 20 states in a series of incident response exercises.
“My staff and I traveled to Cheyenne this week for the DHS cybersecurity exercise because, as county clerks, we understand that diligent preparation is just one of many safeguards that county clerks and the Secretary of State’s Office have put in place to protect voters and their ballots,” said Sheridan County Clerk Eda Schunk Thompson.
The reasons Wyoming’s elections are secure include:
- Wyoming voting systems are never connected to the internet and thus cannot be hacked or subject to cyber threats.
- Each polling place reconciles the number of votes cast to guarantee that the number of people who checked into the polling place matches the number of ballots cast.
- Every voting system that is used in an election is tested publicly for 100% ballot tabulation accuracy before being used in any election. Once tested, the ballot counter is immediately locked, sealed, and guarded through Election Day.
- Each ballot can be verified by a paper audit trail that can be used to confirm the accuracy of every single vote. In order to maintain the secrecy of each person’s vote, this audit trail does not associate any ballot with the voter that cast it.
- Wyoming’s 23 County Clerks work with well trained and experienced citizen election judges and poll workers who manage and monitor each polling place to ensure that the voting environment is efficient and free of obstructions and distractions for the voters.
- All voters must attest that they are citizens and eligible to vote. Wyoming’s voter registration system interfaces with data from the Wyoming Departments of Transportation, Health, Corrections, and the Division of Criminal Investigation to prevent voter fraud, such as votes cast by deceased persons. If voter fraud were to ever occur, those individuals would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
“Once votes are cast, I and every other county clerk will convene a bipartisan canvassing board to review the election tallies, investigate any irregularities, and certify the election results. Canvassing board meetings are open to the public and I encourage voters to attend,” said Carbon County Clerk Gwynn Bartlett.
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Will Dinneen
Public Information and Communications Officer
Wyoming Secretary of State’s Offi
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