Chapter 1 - Wyoming Election Code
CHAPTER 1 - WYOMING ELECTION CODE
22-1-101. Citation.
Thisact is cited as the Wyoming Election Code of 1973, as amended.
22-1-102. Definitions.
(a) The definitions contained in this chapter apply to wordsand phrases used in this Election Code and govern the construction of thosewords and phrases unless they are specifically modified by the context in whichthey appear. As used in this Election Code:
(i) "Automatic tabulating equipment" means apparatusthat automatically examines and counts votes recorded on paper ballots orballot cards and tabulates the results;
(ii) "Ballot" means the cardboard, paper or othermaterial upon which a voter marks his votes;
(iii) "Ballot card" means a ballot that can be countedusing automatic tabulating equipment;
(iv) "Ballot label" means the cards, papers, booklet,pages, or other materials that contain the names of offices and candidates andstatements of ballot propositions to be voted on and which are used inconjunction with ballot cards;
(v) "Ballot proposition" is any question or measuresubmitted to a vote of the people of the state, a subdivision thereof, county,district, city or town, and includes a constitutional amendment, initiative,referendum, bond measure, or any other question or measure required to beapproved by a vote of the people;
(vi) "Bond" means any bond, note, certificate ofindebtedness, coupon, or other obligation for the payment of money, issued byany political subdivision, including any bond payable from taxes, revenues orother sources;
(vii) "Candidate's campaign committee" means everygroup of two (2) or more persons who join together for the purpose of raising,collecting or expending money to be used in the aid of the election of aspecific candidate for public office. If more than one (1) committee forms tosupport the candidate, the candidate shall designate which committee shall behis or her principal campaign committee;
(viii) "Chief judge" means the person selected to beresponsible for the security of ballot envelopes and voter ballots. The chiefjudge shall serve as the primary contact at the polls to the county clerk;
(ix) "City clerk" means a clerk of a municipality;
(x) "Convention" is an organized assemblage ofelectors or delegates representing a political party;
(xi) "Counting center" is the location or locationsdesignated by the county clerk for the automatic tabulating and counting ofballots;
(xii) "County chairman" means the county chairman of apolitical party or the state chairman if the party has no chairman for theparticular county;
(xiii) "Election," when used without qualifyingadjectives, means all elections participated in by the voters of a city, town,county, district or the state;
(xiv) "Electronic voting system" is a system employingan electronic voting device in conjunction with ballot labels, paper ballots orballot cards, or other system of secret voting and automatic tabulatingequipment for the recording, tabulating and counting of votes in an election;
(xv) "Envelope" means any type of container used tocontain or hold election documents;
(xvi) "Independent candidate" is a person who isrunning for nomination or election to a public office but who does notrepresent a political party;
(xvii) "Major political party" means a politicalorganization whose candidate for any one (1) of the offices of the UnitedStates house of representatives, governor or secretary of state, received notless than ten percent (10%) of the total votes cast for that office in the mostrecent general election;
(xviii) "Minor political party" means a politicalorganization whose candidate for any one (1) of the offices of the UnitedStates house of representatives, governor or secretary of state, received notless than two percent (2%) nor more than ten percent (10%) of the total votescast for that office in the most recent general election;
(xix) "Municipality" includes a first class city asdefined by W.S. 15-1-101(a)(iv) and a town as defined by W.S. 15-1-101(a)(xiv);
(xx) "Political action committee" means any group oftwo (2) or more persons organized and associated for the purpose of raising,collecting or spending money for use in the aid of, or otherwise influencing orattempting to influence, directly or indirectly, the election or defeat ofcandidates for public office, candidate's committees, or political parties, forsupport of or opposition to any initiative or referendum petition drive or forthe adoption or defeat of any ballot proposition;
(xxi) "Political subdivision" includes any county,city, town, school district, community college district, hospital district,water conservancy district, cemetery district, fire protection district, or anyother political subdivision of the state constituting a body corporate, whetherincorporated under general act, special charter, or otherwise;
(xxii) "Pollbook" is a book used in a precinct onelection day containing oaths of election officials, tally sheets, the polllist, and other information specified by law;
(xxiii) "Poll list" is the list of registered voters ascompiled by the clerk for use by election judges at the polls. The poll listshall:
(A) Include the names and residence addresses of electorsregistered in the precinct;
(B) Indicate the precinct and various districts in which eachelector resides;
(C) Indicate political party affiliation of the electors, ifany;
(D) Indicate which electors have registered by mail and mustshow identification;
(E) Indicate which electors have submitted absentee ballots inthe election prior to the printing of the poll list;
(F) Provide for the notation of:
(I) A sequential number for each elector voting at the polls;
(II) Electors who cast provisional ballots;
(III) Electors who cast absentee ballots if the absentee ballotsare processed and counted at the polls;
(IV) Electors who change political party affiliation at thepolls.
(G) Provide for the recording of the same information forelectors who register at the polls;
(H) Provide other space as required for election managementpurposes.
(xxiv) "Poll watcher" means a person certified by thecounty chairman of a political party to observe voter turn out andregistration. A "poll watcher" is not an election official;
(xxv) "Provisional party" means a politicalorganization which has filed a legally valid petition as provided under article4 of chapter 4 of this code. The filing of a legally valid petition entitlesthe provisional party to participate in the next general election. If theprovisional party's candidate for any one (1) of the offices of the UnitedStates house of representatives, governor or secretary of state, receives notless than two percent (2%) of the total votes cast for that office in thatelection, the provisional party does not lose party status;
(xxvi) "Qualified elector" includes every citizen of theUnited States who is a bona fide resident of Wyoming, has registered to voteand will be at least eighteen (18) years of age on the day of the election atwhich he may offer to vote. No person is a qualified elector who is a currentlyadjudicated mentally incompetent person, or who has been convicted of a felonyand his civil or voting rights have not been restored. A literacy test shallnot be imposed as a condition to voting in any election;
(xxvii) "Registration" is the entry and verification ofthe name and voter information of a qualified elector on the official registrylist, as provided in W.S. 22-3-104(f) and 22-3-108;
(xxviii) "Registry agent" is a county clerk, his deputies,a tribal clerk, his deputies, a city clerk, his deputies, and an election judgeduring any election specified in W.S. 22-2-101(a)(i) through (viii);
(xxix) "Registry list" is the list by precinct of thenames, addresses, party affiliations and precinct and district numbers of theregistered electors in the county prepared by the secretary of state or countyclerks for distribution as provided in W.S. 22-2-113;
(xxx) "Residence" is the place of a person's actualhabitation. The construction of this term shall be governed by the followingrules:
(A) Residence is the place where a person has a currenthabitation and to which, whenever he is absent, he has the intention ofreturning;
(B) A person shall not gain or lose residence merely by reasonof his presence or absence while:
(I) Employed in the service of the United States or of thisstate; or
(II) A student at an institution of learning; or
(III) Kept at a hospital or other institution; or
(IV) Stationed at or residing on a military reservation orinstallation or at a transient camp maintained for relief purposes by thegovernment of the United States in this state. No person shall be excluded as avoter solely because of his residence on a federal enclave within the state.This factor shall be considered with all others in the determination of theperson's residence within the state for voting purposes.
(C) A person shall not lose his residence by leaving his hometo go to another state, another district of this state, or to another countryfor temporary purposes, with the intent of returning, if he has not registeredin the other state, district or country;
(D) A person shall not gain residence in a county if he entersit without the intent of making it his current actual residence;
(E) If a person removes to another state with the intent ofmaking it his residence, he loses his residence in Wyoming; except that in ageneral election year, if his registration is valid in Wyoming when he leavesthis state and he is unable to qualify under the laws of his new state ofresidence to vote at the primary or general election, he shall be deemed tohave retained residence in Wyoming for purposes of voting by absentee ballot inthe primary or general election;
(F) A person who takes up or continues his abode at a placeother than where his family resides, shall be a resident of the place where heactually abides.
(xxxi) "Square" for purposes of chapter 6 of this codeshall include a box, circle, oval, arrow or other distinctive area used todesignate the area for casting a vote;
(xxxii) "Tally sheet" means the document used to tabulatehand counted paper ballots;
(xxxiii) "Valid write-in candidate" means a candidate whohas qualified as a write-in candidate by following the procedures andrequirements of W.S. 22-5-501;
(xxxiv) "Voting device" means:
(A) Repealed By Laws 2008, Ch. 115, 2.
(B) A device for marking the ballots with ink or anothersubstance; or
(C) Any other method for recording votes on ballots so that theballot may be tabulated by means of automatic tabulating equipment.
(xxxv) "Write-in vote" is a vote cast for a person whosename does not otherwise appear on the official ballot as a candidate for theoffice for which his name is written in by the voter;
(xxxvi) "Federal office" means the offices of presidentand vice-president of the United States, United States senator andrepresentative in congress;
(xxxvii) "Immediate family" means a spouse, parent,sibling, child or other person living in the individual's household;
(xxxviii) "Election assistance" does not include theposting of campaign signs or the availability of campaign materials;
(xxxix) "Acceptable identification" means one (1) of theidentification documents or other proof of identity as specified by rule of thesecretary of state as adequate proof of the identity of a voter;
(xl) "Canvass" means the audit function thatculminates in the final certification of official election returns;
(xli) "Provisional ballot" means a ballot provided to avoter whose right to register or to vote cannot be determined at the polls orverified at the election office, in order to allow the voter to cast a ballotat the polls which shall be counted only if the ballot is determined to be avalid ballot as provided in this Election Code;
(xlii) "Recount" is the processing of ballots throughthe tabulation system for an additional time or times, conducted for thespecific purpose of counting votes again in any specific race, based upon thecriteria of W.S. 22-16-109 or 22-16-111;
(xliii) "Retabulation" is the process of running ballotsback through the tabulation system for an additional time or times for theexpress purpose of reconciling the count;
(xliv) "Tribal clerk" means an official designated bythe Eastern Shoshone Tribe and an official designated by the Northern ArapahoTribe of the Wind River Reservation acting pursuant to a cooperative agreemententered into by a county and the respective tribe pursuant to W.S. 16-1-101,which agreement provides for the official to provide services as a registryagent under the direct supervision and control of the county clerk;
(xlv) "Print" means to write in letters and reproducewhether on paper or other medium by mechanical, magnetic or electrical process;
(xlvi) "Voter registration system" means the single,uniform, official, interactive, computerized, statewide voter registrationsystem containing the registration information of every legally registeredelector in the state.