Wyoming elections chief urges reintroduction of suite of ‘election integrity’ bills; committee directs LSO to draft measures for study

The Joint Interim Corporations Committee heard a detailed presentation May 22 from the office of Wyoming’s Secretary of State asking the panel to take up a bundle of election-related bills that failed during the 2026 session.

Secretary of State staff framed the priority list as measures to “strengthen election integrity,” highlighting House Bill 48 (pen-and-paper ballots), House Bill 49 (a statutory ban on ballot dropboxes), House Bill 50 (a prohibition on third-party ballot collection, commonly called “ballot harvesting”), and a set of proposals to require hand-count verification in limited circumstances. The office also flagged proposals on poll-watcher access, independent-candidate petition rules and tighter definitions for acceptable voter identification.

“From our perspective, pen-and-paper ballots would increase confidence because electors can verify a human-readable record,” the Secretary’s office said in its presentation, noting a concern that some tabulators read machine barcodes rather than printed candidate names. Policy staff also urged careful drafting on harvesting exceptions — particularly how residential-care and immediate-family exceptions would operate.

After hearing the office’s presentation and a long committee discussion about alternatives, Representative Eric Webb moved that LSO prepare draft bills for the slate the Secretary of State provided so the committee could study them and receive public comment at a subsequent meeting. Committee members divided the motion and the panel then considered each bill draft request individually during the session.

The record shows committee members pressed for further work on several points: whether to mandate full hand counts, to limit hand-counts to recount contexts or to require random one-precinct post-election audits; how an outright dropbox prohibition would affect county operations and accessible return options; and whether moving the change-of-party cutoff to January 1 of an election year would raise First Amendment concerns. County clerks who testified said they were implementing recent statutory changes and urged the committee to involve clerks before finalizing new deadlines or mechanics.

Public commenters at the meeting offered sharply divergent views. Nonpartisan and civic-education speakers urged the committee to prioritize participation, voter education and data transparency rather than repeatedly proposing laws aimed at low-probability fraud. Outside election-integrity groups urged paper records, audit requirements and more restrictive dropbox and harvesting rules. County clerks and municipal officials stressed administrative feasibility during an active filing and election year.

The committee’s action to ask LSO to prepare drafts is procedural — it asks staff to produce versions of proposed legislation for later consideration and public notice, not to adopt policy immediately. Members emphasized that no final votes on policy or enactment took place during the May 22 meeting; the drafts are intended to bring text back for detailed committee review and additional public testimony.

What’s next: LSO will prepare draft bill language for the measures the Secretary’s office requested; the committee expects to review those drafts, allow public comment and then decide whether to sponsor or forward any measures for the 2027 cycle. The committee also asked that working groups consider nuanced drafting where the record shows possible exceptions (for example, ballot-harvesting carve-outs for immediate family and residential-care staff).