Wyoming Senate rejects post-election audit bill on third reading | Local News

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Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, speaks on the Senate floor during the Wyoming Legislature’s budget session at the state Capitol on Feb. 19.

CHEYENNE — Another bill aimed at changing the way Wyoming conducts its elections was shot down Thursday by the state Senate after calls to hit the brakes on the measure came from Wyoming county clerks.

Although House Bill 85 received approval from the House, it could not make its way through the Senate on third and final reading, and died on a 9-21 vote.

HB 85 sought to mandate that county clerks take formal minutes during post-election audits and provide those records to the Secretary of State’s Office. It also required the presence of at least two electors from different political parties to observe the audit procedures and results, giving them the legal authority to register “observed errors or other objections.”

The bill would have codified a more rigid structure for public and political observation than currently exists in state statute.

The measure was another election priority for Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who has spent the past few legislative sessions pushing a slate of election reforms aimed at addressing what he describes as a lack of public trust in the state’s election system. Gray has argued that hand tabulation and more transparent audit verification are “common sense” measures to ensure that machines are accurately reflecting voter intent.

On Thursday, lawmakers debated the necessity of more oversight of Wyoming’s county clerks. Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, chair of the Senate Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee, led the opposition, telling the body that the state’s election officials were firmly against the measure.

“Your county clerks are back, and they’ve had their Wheaties ... they don’t like this bill,” Case said to the legislative chamber. He argued that the bill was not a product of the normal collaborative process, and that clerks had been “browbeaten” by more election bills discussed in the past three years than the state has passed in the previous 90.

“Some of those bills were, no doubt, needed,” he said. “I’m telling you, this is not one of them. And I’m really proud of them for standing up, and I stand with them, to ask you to kill this bill today.”

Proponents of the bill, however, maintained that the legislation was about transparency, rather than a critique of current officials. Sen. Brian Boner, R-Douglas, argued that the bill made “modest adjustments” to earn back the trust of a public that has become skeptical due to national political election fraud rhetoric.

“Part of being a confident professional is continuing to look for ways to improve upon the existing system,” Boner said, noting that amendments had been added to address clerk concerns about room capacity and ballot secrecy.

Sen. Dan Laursen, R-Powell, said the bill gives Wyoming voters what they want: increased transparency.

Other lawmakers remained unconvinced that the proposed changes would improve the process. Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper, expressed concern about the logistical “chaos” of having more people in the audit rooms.

“More is not better, and throwing more and more people into those rooms when our county clerks are trying to go through a certification process, trying to do the post-election stuff that we require them to do, more is not better,” he said. “... This just is not a good bill.”

Sen. Wendy Schuler, R-Evanston, also raised concerns about constitutional privacy, stating, “We want to maintain that secrecy of our ballot. I still think there’s an opening there, and I think we need to close the gap, and I think we should be against this bill.”

Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, said the bill panders to a “storm” of national rhetoric that does not reflect Wyoming’s reality.

“Enough is enough. ... It’s absurd,” Nethercott told the Senate, referencing the number of election changes passed in the last few years. She urged the body to “rise above public rhetoric” and listen to county clerks who oppose this measure.

The bill’s failure marks a recurring trend, where many of Gray’s “election integrity” priorities in 2025 found success in the House only to meet their end in the Senate.

The final roll call saw only nine senators voting in favor of the measure, and 21 opposed, effectively ending its path to the governor’s desk.

Chuck Gray

Gray released a statement by email in response to the bill’s failure, saying, “I am extremely disappointed that the Wyoming Senate killed House Bill 85 on third reading today. HB 85 was an important election integrity bill ensuring transparency and accountability in the post-election audit process, specifically by requiring enhanced record-keeping, public participation and observation of the post-election audit process by multiple witnesses, and an opportunity to register any observed errors in the post-election audit procedure.

“HB 85 was the direct result of hours of testimony taken by concerned Wyoming citizens who questioned whether a post-election audit was ever even performed in the 2024 General Election in Weston County, because there was no one to witness it. This bill would have made sure this never happened again. It is extremely disturbing that a majority of the State Senate opposes these common-sense election integrity improvements and that many seem to have become afflicted by Trump Derangement Syndrome in repeating arguments of the leftwing media in their opposition to this bill.”

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