SF0184

Prohibits electronic voting equipment and requires hand counting of paper ballots in Wyoming elections.

• Requires all elections to use paper ballots that are hand counted instead of electronic voting machines, except for accessible voting machines limited to assisting voters with disabilities in marking paper ballots. (W.S. 22-11-101.1, W.S. 22-11-103(a)(iii), Sec. 1)
• Establishes specific hand counting procedures using counting teams of two election judges from different political parties, with one judge reading votes and another verifying, and a second team recording votes on tally sheets. (W.S. 22-14-104(b), Sec. 1)
• Prohibits use of electronic pollbooks in polling places, though county clerks may still use electronic systems to prepare pollbooks for use. (W.S. 22-3-111(c), Sec. 1)
• Requires ballot formats to be designed to facilitate hand tabulation and prohibits unreadable barcodes or QR codes that cannot be read by human election workers. (W.S. 22-6-115, Sec. 1)
• Modifies post-election ballot audit procedures to require auditing of at least five percent of ballots cast and specifies that the smallest observable percentage between top candidates determines the audit scope. (W.S. 22-6-130(a), Sec. 1)
• Increases counting board membership from three to four judges for polling places and modifies composition requirements for central counting centers. (W.S. 22-8-108(a), W.S. 22-8-108(b), Sec. 1)
• Requires testing of hand counting, tabulating and reporting procedures with political party representatives present at least two weeks before each election. (W.S. 22-11-104(b)(iii), Sec. 1)
• Allows election observers to be present to observe voter turnout, registration, and hand tabulation procedures, and requires election observers to subscribe to an oath of confidentiality. (W.S. 22-8-115(b), W.S. 22-15-109, Sec. 1)
• Adds penalties for falsifying hand tabulation results or tally sheets as a felony offense related to election fraud. (W.S. 22-26-107(a)(v), Sec. 1)