Ballot harvesting bill stripped in House Corporations Committee
Feb. 2—CHEYENNE — A bill designed to reduce opportunities for ballot harvesting was stripped of nearly all its original language before passing on Wednesday out of the House Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee.
Ballot harvesting is defined in a multitude of ways, but the simplest form is when a person collects two or more absentee ballots to submit at a mailbox or drop box at one time. This can be in the form of someone taking their own ballot and their partner's ballot to the post office for them, or in a larger form that has gained negative attention in the most recent elections.
House Corporations Chairman Rep. Jared Olsen, R-Cheyenne, sponsored House Bill 211, which he said sought to clarify ballot harvesting on a micro scale by immediate family or designee. He said he wanted to continue to allow it, and he said there is good reason to, but it needed to be made permissible due to the statutes being silent.
He also wanted to prohibit ballot harvesting on a large scale, but he said he didn't believe that was happening within the state.
"When we're talking about companies, political parties and organizations," he said, "this is what we want to prohibit from occurring in Wyoming."
Olsen's bill had multiple parts to it. The bill would have changed the definition of "immediate family" in election code to mean "spouse, parent, sibling child, or other blood relative living in the individual's household," switching the previous word "person" out for "blood relative."
It also would have enumerated the methods for delivering a ballot, such as mail, hand delivery to the county clerk's office or depositing into a ballot drop box provided by the county clerk.
A voter who has designated another person to return their marked and sealed ballot also would have to notify the county clerk by using a form that would be provided by the Wyoming Secretary of State's Office, and that designated person could only return up to two absentee ballots for any election.
However, the restriction would not apply to designated persons delivering the absentee ballots of immediate family members.
All of this language was removed in multiple amendments at the end of the meeting, and an addition was made at the request of the Wyoming County Clerks Association.
It provides a clearer definition of ballot harvesting, as well as specifies an investigation by a prosecutor or local sheriff's office can take place for suspected action. This is the same language utilized in existing election code on how offices proceed with investigations of wrongdoing.
"The definition that was presented as valid harvesting means the solicited gathering and returning of completed absentee ballots by third-party individuals, volunteers or workers when not approached to do so directly by a voter and provided with the voter's expressed authorization," said Mary Lankford, a representative of the county clerks association.
Lankford also pushed, with other county clerks, for the continued utilization of drop boxes in the state, and said the needs were different in each county. It could be used to drop off taxes, perform county business or deliver documents.
This went against previous testimony from Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who wanted no mention of drop boxes in the bill and argued for their removal. He said the bill took an "unprecedented step of codifying this language in Wyoming statute," and would undermine the state's confidence in elections.
Gray was supportive of legislation prohibiting ballot harvesting, but he didn't approve of the limited-allowance approach.
The bill will move on to general file in the House for first reading, as the deadline for bills to be reported out of the Committee of the Whole in house of origin is Monday.
Jasmine Hall is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's state government reporter. She can be reached by email at jhall@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3167. Follow her on Twitter @jasminerhphotos and on Instagram @jhrose25.
