Park County voters bucked the state trend in the November general election.

While the turnout percentage statewide was the second-lowest in state history, locally well over half of county residents able to vote did so.

According to a Park County Elections release, census data indicates that roughly 54% of Park County’s voting age population cast a ballot, with the 12,977 ballots cast representing the county’s highest turnout ever for a midterm general election. Across the state, however, only about 44% of Wyoming’s adults participated, said State Election Director Kai Schon, making for the second-worst general election turnout in Wyoming history.

The increased interest in the fall elections began almost as soon as filing finished as a variety of local groups held forums for races. In the Powell area, there were multiple forums held for school board candidates and for Northwest College board trustees, while Cody groups held a handful for contested races as well. 

Turnout was high at many of the forums, and that carried over to Election Day. 

There were 7,607 votes cast at Park County’s polling places on a snowy Election Day, which, while it was 91 fewer people than had showed up on the day of the primary election, that drop was offset by more people voting early at the courthouse (2,630) and by absentee ballot (2,740) in the general election, noted CJ Baker with Park County Elections.

“We’re thankful for the thousands of local residents who took the time to vote this year and we hope even more choose to participate in 2024,” County clerk Colleen Renner said. “We also are so appreciative of all the work put in by our election judges and county staff to make this election a success.”

Most polling locations had a poll watcher present, and in a statement the state Republican Party said its poll watchers didn’t record any major problems. 

Dealing with a lot of voters didn’t lead to any major issues locally.

Renner said the Nov. 8 election ran even more smoothly than the primary, which also set a record for a midterm primary election. The only issue reported to the elections office came toward the end of the day at the Cody Recreation Center, when the DS200 voting machine began directing voters to submit their ballot in a specific orientation. Elections staff suspect the machine’s scanner became dirty or that some of the ballots had been printed slightly askew. The issue resulted in only minor delays, and all voters were able to successfully cast their ballots, Baker said.

The need to vote with a photo ID likewise didn’t lead to major issues, even though it was the first election cycle in which voters were required to show identification when voting in person. Renner said that change by the Wyoming Legislature was well-received in Park County and only one voter in the general election failed to provide identification, which resulted in their provisional ballot going uncounted.