Equality State News

Prior to the Nov. 3 election, podcast host Jan Otto and WyLiberty policy analyst Jonathan Clark discussed common voting concerns in the podcast Voter Assurance.

Otto said the organization was advocating for a gold standard for Wyoming, like a voter I.D. with a picture at the polling location for someone who is already registered to vote. 

“These are the issues that we believe should come to the front of the mind when voters are considering that their vote is very valuable, that there are plenty of foreign people that would love to steal it or manipulate it,” Otto said. 

Such a proposal failed in the state legislature earlier this year. 

Wyoming allows for same-day voter registration through county clerks. Once someone has registered to vote with a county clerk, providing the correct identification, the resident can vote.

“There’s no additional identification required by that voter at the polls,” Otto said on the podcast. 

Otto questioned if it would help with voter assurance to also require I.D. at the polls when voting. 

“There’s a fair amount of support actually for having voter I.D. at the polls,” Clark said in the podcast. “I think that the elected officials are very interested in ensuring that they execute their processes fairly. ”

Otto said it would be a bit of an administrative burden to require I.D., but that 14 other states already require this.

“When a voter presents themselves to the county clerk, the county clerk asks their name — this is a type of authentication,” Clark said. “It’s something you know. So, you give them your name, they may even ask what your address is, and they check that name against the poll book.”

Clark said having a voter I.D. would be a way to confirm that the person presenting themselves is the proper voter.

Clark said a passport could also be one way to confirm identity, or even having the state’s voter I.D. cards come with photographs on them.

“So, every citizen, who has not been convicted of a felony, has the right to vote, so if you’re like my mother, who’s 98 years old and has an expired driver’s license, having an I.D. that is acceptable at the polls that is not an expired license would be a very valuable thing,” Clark said.