TO: Wyoming Media Outlets and Reporters
FROM: Will Dinneen, Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office
RE: Election Results on Primary Election Night & A Candidate Withdrawal
Members of the Wyoming Media:
Tomorrow is Primary Election Day. Already, 32,147 ballots have been cast throughout Wyoming through mailed and in-person absentee voting. Roughly 90% of those absentee ballots sent by Wyoming’s county clerks have been returned.
Before I briefly provide an explanation of how election numbers are gathered, processed, and reported by Wyoming’s county clerks and the Secretary of State’s Office, I wanted to bring to your attention a candidate withdrawal that has occurred. At 2:53 p.m today (Monday, August 20th), Charlie Hardy withdrew his application for the Republican Party nomination for U.S. Senate. W.S. 22-5-401(e) reads in part: “…if a candidate withdraws after the ballots are finalized and approved for printing by a county clerk…the county clerk shall…post a notice at each polling place announcing that the named candidate is not the party’s nominee for the office designated.”
As Mr. Hardy was a candidate in a statewide race and because Mr. Hardy’s withdrawal from the U.S. Senate race occurred less than 24 hours before polls open tomorrow, I wanted to provide you with notification of his withdrawal.
Now, to the matter of primary election results. After the polls close at 7:00 p.m. tomorrow, election judges at every polling place or vote center begin to securely relay unofficial election results to their respective county clerk. Once 100% of a county’s precincts have reported results to their county clerk, those same results are then securely relayed to the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Election Division.
Election results received from counties will be posted on the Secretary of State’s website as “Unofficial Results” alongside official election results from past Wyoming elections at: http://soswy.state.wy.us/Elections/Docs/2018/2018PrimaryResults.aspx
The best way to obtain unofficial precinct-level results on election night may be through a county’s website. A list of Wyoming’s 23 county clerks and their respective websites may be found here: https://soswy.state.wy.us/Elections/Docs/WYCountyClerks.pdf.
Election results are unofficial until the State Canvassing Board meets to certify the results of the primary election on Wednesday, August 29th – eight days after the 2018 Primary Election.
Please do not hesitate to contact me with any further questions you may have concerning the posting of election results or with other questions about the election process.
Thank you,
—
Will Dinneen
Public Information and Communications Officer
Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office
(307) 777-5365
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