August 29, 2024 |
Photo – A local polling place – Bigfoot99 file photo
November’s election candidates have been finalized. Write-in nominations changed the outcome of several primary races last week.
In Hanna, write-in candidate Charlie George bumped Jerry Walter from the mayoral race. George will run against “Oats” Briggs in November. Meanwhile, Paul Cruz received enough write-in votes to be added to the Hanna town council election.
In Medicine Bow, former mayor Lucy Schofield garnered the required number of write-in votes to be eligible to run for both a four-year and an unexpected two-year town council seat. However, Schofield cannot run in both races and must decide which seat to pursue.
Saratoga residents voted to add Josh Wood to the town council ballot.
Speaking at Tuesday’s Board of County Commissioners meeting, County Clerk Gwynn Bartlett said Wood declined his nomination and Schofield chose to run for a two-year term on the Medicine Bow town council.
Clerk Bartlett said a few races lacked the required number of votes to add a write-in candidate to November’s ballot. Voters will still be given the opportunity to write in a candidate during the general election, though.
The county clerk said she was surprised by the lack of voter turnout. Clerk Bartlett said only about half of Carbon County’s registered voters participated in last week’s primary election.
Last year, in an effort to combat election fraud, Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray banned residents from changing political party affiliation after May 15th. During Tuesday’s county commissioners meeting, Clerk Bartlett said the rule change drastically reduced the number of voter registration change forms. The county clerk said registered voters could only change their names and addresses this year.
Clerk Bartlett urged more Carbon County residents to get involved with the election process. The county clerk criticized people who challenged the credibility of her staff despite not knowing how the process works.
Commission Chairwoman Sue Jones said not to believe everything you see on social media. Clerk Bartlett agreed. The county clerk recommended following her office’s Facebook page and signing up to the county-wide notification system, called Alert Sense, to receive trusted election information.
Clerk Bartlett and the entire board of county commissioners thanked every volunteer who helped with last week’s primary election.
