State voting up for mid-terms

Alexis Barker
NLJ Reporter
 
General election results have been certified and made official by the Wyoming State Canvassing Board, according to a Nov. 14 media release from the Secretary of State’s office. 
A total of 205,275 individuals cast ballots across the state in the mid-term election, with 30 percent of those being absentee ballots. According to the release, this is the highest number of votes ever cast in a mid-term election in Wyoming, with 46.4 percent of the state’s voting-age population turning out to vote. 
According to Weston County Clerk Jill Sellers, a total of 2,737 votes were cast in the county, or 71.5 percent of the county’s registered voters. Absentee ballots accounted for 654 of the total – or 23.9 percent. About 900 absentee ballots were cast during the 2016 presidential election when 3,836 total votes were cast. In that year, absentee ballots accounted for 23.4 percent of total votes.
Sellers reported that the 2018 total is a “respectable number,” considering that Nov. 6 was not a presidential election and that the number of absentee ballots being cast is slowly growing. 
“The number of absentee ballots being cast is increasing. I think people like the flexibility and the opportunity to do their research and return their ballot when convenient,” Sellers said. 
She noted that those who cast their ballots through absentee voting have the ability to work around their schedules. 
“We will probably continue to see an increase in absentee voting and its use by the population. This is true across the country and an ongoing trend,” Sellers said.