Early and absentee voting is once again proving to be a popular way to submit a ballot in Park County.

A week before Tuesday’s general election, 3,700 county residents had voted early or absentee, reported CJ Baker with the Park County Elections Office.

For those who aren’t voting early, polls will be open at the same precinct locations as during the summer primary, 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday. 

Following August’s record-breaking primary election, Park County officials predict strong voter turnout for next week’s election as well.

“All signs point to another busy Election Day — which is exactly what we like to see,” said Park County Clerk Colleen Renner. “I encourage residents to exercise their right to vote.”

The 3,700 ballots cast through Nov. 1, including 1,543 early votes in the elections office and 2,156 absentee votes, compares to 2,807 cast in the summer that saw a record overall turnout for a county primary. There were another 750 absentee ballots that had not yet been returned.

The increase in early and absentee voting is part of a trend that’s been growing for years, with one caveat: it’s still nowhere near the amount of early and absentee votes made in the county during the pandemic with a presidential election on the line. By this point in 2020, 7,046 ballots had been cast in the general election.

In 2018 for comparison, 2,422 people had voted the Tuesday before the election, compared to 3,171 in 2016 (another presidential election year) and 1,552 in 2014. 

Ahead of Election Day, residents can look up their polling place and review sample ballots on the county’s elections website, parkcounty-wy.gov/county-elections. The elections site includes newly filed campaign finance reports, which show candidates and committees have spent roughly $30,000 on county, municipal, school and college board campaigns since August.

There have been three changes since ballots were printed: Park County School District 6 board candidate Samantha Gbadamosi and Park County School District 1 board candidate Aida Polson have withdrawn from their races and Crown Hill Cemetery District board candidate Jerry Clark recently passed away.

Renner and her elections staff have taken steps to alleviate the lines that voters experienced at some polling locations in August, including by adding more election judges, shuffling polling place layouts and improving signage, Baker said in a release. However, with thousands of people heading to the polls on Tuesday, Renner cautioned that voters may still have to do some waiting at the busier polling sites. Election Day voting will take place at the Cody Auditorium, the Cody Recreation Center, the Park County Fairgrounds in Powell, the South Fork Fire Hall, the Wapiti school, the Meeteetse Senior Center, the Mountain View Clubhouse, the Clark Pioneer Recreation Center and the Garland Community Church.

Residents continue to have the option of voting early at the Park County Courthouse from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays through Monday, Nov. 7. Absentee ballots also remain available.

Residents can register to vote or update their registration at the same time that they vote. Proper identification — such as a driver’s license, state ID card, military ID card or U.S. passport — is required. Under a new law, voters who are already registered also need to show acceptable ID when voting in person.

Unofficial results from the general election will be posted to the county website as they are tabulated Tuesday night. Those results are due to the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office by 10:30 p.m.

Voting precinct error corrected in rural Powell

The Park County Elections Office has fixed a data entry error that placed a dozen voters in rural Powell in the wrong precinct for August’s primary election.

The error – which only impacted residents in the 500 block of Lane 8 1/2 – was corrected last week, before any incorrect votes were cast in the general election, according to an elections office release.

The mistake occurred in the spring, while Park County Elections staff were adjusting precincts to match the newly redrawn boundaries of state House District 25. The process involved reassigning local addresses to different districts, precincts and/or splits in the state’s voter registration database. When adjusting the 500 block of Lane 8 1/2 east of Powell, however, staff mistakenly transposed the odd and even addresses.

The even-numbered houses on the south side of the road were supposed to move into Precinct 10-1-3, which is a part of House District 25 and votes at the Park County Fairgrounds. However, the eight primary voters were mistakenly left in Precinct 6-1-1, which is a part of House District 26 and votes at the Garland Community Church of God. Meanwhile, the four primary voters living on the north side of the road — who were supposed to stay in 6-1-1 — were mistakenly placed in 10-1-3. The mix-up resulted in 12 Republican voters casting ballots in the wrong House race.

“The first- and second-place candidates in the House District 25 and House District 26 Republican primaries wound up being separated by hundreds of votes, so the error ultimately had no impact on either of those races,” said Park County First Deputy Clerk Hans Odde. “But we’re still disappointed, because our goal is zero mistakes.”

The error was caught by an alert resident on Lane 8 1/2. He called the elections office on Oct. 27, after checking the county’s online MapServer application and seeing he was supposed to be in a different precinct. After confirming the mistake, elections staff corrected the registration database, sent letters to the affected voters and notified the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office.

“We continue to be thankful for our voters and the close attention they pay to our elections,” said Odde. “We encourage voters to reach out anytime they see something that seems to be amiss.”

The Park County Elections Office can be reached at 307-527-8620 or voterinfo@parkcounty.us.

Only the voters with addresses directly on the 500 block of Lane 8 1/2 were impacted by the mistake; for instance, residents on Kodiak Road, Risen Son Road and East and West Christy Lane were correctly moved into Precinct 10-1-3 and House District 25.