Democratic candidate receives GOP absentee ballot, questions rural service

JACKSON — A Democratic candidate for Wyoming House District 23 announced in a Sunday press release that he had received the wrong absentee ballot in the mail last week.
Ryan Sedgeley said that he and his wife have “always been registered as Democrats in Wyoming” but received ballots in the mail Aug. 9 for the Republican primary.
“If this race is tight, it raises questions,” Sedgeley told the Jackson Hole Daily on Sunday.
As of Friday night, 166 Democrats had voted so far in the Teton County primary, according to the clerk’s office. Overall, roughly 3,000 voters — Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated voters combined — have cast ballots, which is about 50% of total voters who turned out in 2018.
Sedgeley is running against Democrat Elizabeth Storer in the primary to see who will face Republican Paul Vogelheim in the general election for the seat now held by Rep. Andy Schwartz, a Democrat.
Sedgeley said, and Teton County Clerk Maureen “Mo” Murphy confirmed by phone, that he called the clerk’s office when he saw the ballots were incorrect and requested Democratic primary ballots.
Murphy said the correct ballots were sent right away. 
Only one other person had called with a similar complaint this year, she said. During the last election three people reported having the wrong ballot due to “human error,” Murphy said. 
She encouraged anyone who received a ballot that doesn’t match their party registration to call her office immediately.
Sedgeley lives in Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park, where his wife works for the National Park Service. Part of his campaign platform has been for more rural government services like polling places and drivers license services.
Even if he receives the ballots by mail Monday, Sedgeley said, he will still have to make the approximately six-hour round trip drive to Jackson to have his and his wife’s ballots counted on time. All ballots must be received by the clerk’s office at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 16, which is primary election day.
Sedgeley called for an “audit” in his press release “to ensure that no one else had this same problem.” 
Murphy said she received a personal email from Sedgeley the same day he sent the press release, but she didn’t understand what kind of audit he was requesting.
Murphy said her office keeps track of anyone who received an incorrect ballot in the voting system, but there is nothing done specifically with data on people who received the wrong ballots.
The error comes during a year when election security and integrity is under intense scrutiny.
Sedgeley is a progressive Democrat. He told the Daily he was “on the fence” about going public with his experience because he didn’t want to play into the sentiment that Wyoming’s elections aren’t secure.
“I believe that the majority of fear mongering is just that,” Sedgeley said.
Ultimately, Sedgeley said he wants to see Wyoming make it easier for people living in rural areas to vote.
“Until Wyoming has a vote by mail system, we have a right to a polling place near our communities,” he said in the release.
 
This story was published on August 15, 2022.