November 8, 2022 |
Today is Election Day. Polls opened at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Voters in Wyoming are required to show proof of identification. Any number of valid ID’s are accepted.
Absentee ballots are due at the Carbon County Clerk’s office by the time the polls close this evening. As of one week ago today, the Carbon County Clerk was still waiting on 330 absentee ballots to be returned to her office.
Carbon County Clerk Gwynn Bartlett told county commissioners at their regular meeting last week that 1,334 absentee ballots had been mailed to voters who had requested them.
Pictured above: File photo of Carbon County polling location. Photo by Cali O’Hare/Bigfoot 99.
At the time of Bartlett’s report, the number of outstanding ballots was 337. Voters who requested absentee ballots can return them to the clerk’s office in Rawlins by U.S. mail or by hand-delivering them. Absentee voting in Wyoming is structured to prevent fraud.
Unlike other states, clerks do not mail unsolicited absentee ballots. Proof of address is needed at the time an absentee ballot is requested. Each ballot is numbered and cross-checked against a database when it is received.
Rules are also in place for voters who requested an absentee ballot but decide to vote in person at the poll.
Bartlett told Bigfoot 99 that the voter would surrender their absentee ballot at their polling station. Election officials at the polls would contact our office to ensure no other ballot was received for that voter then he/she would be allowed to vote at the polls on Election Day. The unused absentee ballot would be destroyed.
The 1,334 absentee ballots requested for today’s General Election in Carbon County are about 1,500 fewer than were requested for the August primary.
