August 17, 2022 |
On Election Day in Saratoga, this reporter overheard a man who was filling up his truck at a gas station say to a woman who was buying fuel at the same pumping island, “We need ID for everything else.”
The man could have only been talking about one thing, Wyoming’s new Voter ID law. People arriving at the polls Tuesday had to produce a driver’s license or other acceptable ID to vote for the first time in state history. The judges marked the type of identification used next to the registered voter’s name on the list.
The process added a few seconds to the voting process, but it did not appear to be a major inconvenience.
Bigfoot 99 sent new reporter Matt Copeland to the polling place at in Saratoga to ask voters what they thought about the new way of securing elections in the state. One of the first people who Bigfoot 99 approached was Carbon County Commissioner Byron Barkhurst, who said he liked the idea.
Pictured above: File photo of voters in Carbon County. Photo by Jim O’Reilly/Bigfoot 99.
Not everybody is happy with the concept. Former Albany County state lawmaker Charles Pelke filed a lawsuit over the Voter ID law, claiming it is unnecessary, infringes on a person’s ability to vote and discourages turnout. In July, the state asked the judge to toss the lawsuit. The case is pending.
On a whole, the voters Bigfoot 99 spoke with yesterday, like Leslie Johnson, appreciated the new security feature surrounding elections in Wyoming.
Former Saratoga Mayor John Zeiger said the new law requiring picture IDs to vote is an idea whose time is overdue.
Chris Powell said being required to produce proof of who you are before being allowed to vote in an election seems like plain common sense.
Encampment Police Chief Kevin Shue voted Tuesday morning. Police always ask for ID, so no surprise the chief was on board with the idea.
Kasen Barkhurst was voting for the first time ever yesterday. To him, everything about the process was both new and interesting. The young Barkhurst said he was also in favor of the new law.
The new Voter ID law did not appear to discourage voters from showing up at the poll. In Saratoga, during the noon hour, election judges said turnout for the mid-term primary was impressive.
