The results of Park County’s record-breaking primary election are now official. On Friday, the county’s canvas board certified the results from the 12,366 ballots cast in the Aug. 16 primary, with no changes from the unofficial results released on election night. The Wyoming State Canvassing Board certified the state’s results Wednesday.

“It was an extremely busy election, but it went smoothly,” said Park County Clerk Colleen Renner. “We really appreciated voters’ patience and the hard work put in by our election judges amid the record turnout.”

Prior to this year, the highest turnout in a primary election was 9,560 voters in 2010, so this year broke that record by 2,800 voters or about 30%. The elections department attributes the increase to the heightened interest in the Republican U.S. House race and a growing county population.

Also on Friday, elections department staff participated in a statewide audit of the results, observed by the two-member canvas board. The staff and board members viewed scanned images of roughly 75 different ballots cast in Park County to verify that the county’s DS200 and DS450 voting machines accurately counted the marks made on the ballots.

A total of 450 races were randomly sampled and the audit found that the Elections Systems & Software (ES&S) machines had accurately counted all 450 marked ovals. The audit should give the public further confidence that their ballots are being counted accurately, Renner said.

A review of write-in votes resulted in one additional candidate for the general election ballot.  In the race for two seats on the Meeteetse Town Council, Dustin Taylor received four write-in votes (above the threshold of three) and opted to join candidates Eric Scott and Thom Nave in the race. The general election will also feature a rematch between Meeteetse mayoral candidates J.W. “Bill” Yetter and Kristen Yoder, who faced each other in the primary as well.

The Park County Elections Department is still reviewing the write-in votes cast in the more than 100 races for seats on the Republican and Democratic party’s central committee. Those results are due to the party chairs within 45 days of the election.

Meanwhile, the filing period for roughly 60 available seats on local school, college and special district boards runs through 5 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 29. That’s also the deadline for any independent candidates for partisan offices to file.