Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray is sending a letter to Wyoming’s 23 county clerks explaining why they should not use drop boxes in the 2024 election.
In the letter, Gray outlines explicitly rescinding directives issued by previous Secretary of State Ed Buchanan in 2020 allowing ballot drop boxes.
Citing language of the Wyoming Election Code, the end of Governor Gordon’s declared state of emergency during the government’s response to COVID-19, as well as the rescission of the 2020 directives issued in reliance on Governor Gordon’s declared state of emergency, Secretary Gray’s letter urges the county clerks to discontinue their use in 2024.
In his statement, Secretary Gray says, “Given the differing interpretations of my predecessors’ support for drop boxes, I want to be unequivocally clear: I do not believe drop boxes represent a safe, secure, or statutory basis for absentee voting. For this reason, I believe they should not be used in the 2024 Election and beyond. The plain language of W.S. 22-9-113, which provides that completed absentee ballots be ‘mailed or delivered to the clerk,’ does not allow for unattended ballot drop boxes as a means of delivering absentee ballots to the clerk. The strained interpretation only came about during the government’s response to COVID-19, and the directives authorizing them are no longer in effect. As Wyoming Secretary of State, I remain committed to preserving the integrity and confidence in Wyoming’s elections. I remain convinced that the use of unstaffed and unattended ballot drop boxes is not best for our state and lacks statutory authorization, and I am strongly opposed to their use.”
