§ 22-1-102 — Definitions

Wyoming § 22-1-102

• Jurisdiction: Wyoming
• Title 22: Elections
• Ch. 1: WYOMING ELECTION CODE

Text

(a) The definitions contained in this chapter apply to
words and phrases used in this Election Code and govern the
construction of those words and phrases unless they are
specifically modified by the context in which they appear. As
used in this Election Code:
(i) "Automatic tabulating equipment" means apparatus
that automatically examines and counts votes recorded on paper
ballots or ballot cards and tabulates the results;
(ii) "Ballot" means the cardboard, paper or other
material upon which a voter marks his votes;
(iii) "Ballot card" means a ballot that can be
counted using automatic tabulating equipment;
(iv) Repealed By Laws 2014, Ch. 108, § 2.
(v) "Ballot proposition" is any question or measure
submitted 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 be approved by a
vote of the people;
(vi) "Bond" means any bond, note, certificate of
indebtedness, coupon, or other obligation for the payment of
money, issued by any political subdivision, including any bond
payable from taxes, revenues or other sources;
(vii) "Candidate's campaign committee" means every
group 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 a specific candidate for public
office. If more than one (1) committee forms to support the
candidate, the candidate shall designate which committee shall
be his or her principal campaign committee;
(viii) "Chief judge" means the person selected to be
responsible for the security of ballot envelopes and voter
ballots. The chief judge 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 of
electors or delegates representing a political party;
(xi) "Counting center" is the location or locations
designated by the county clerk for the automatic tabulating and
counting of ballots;
(xii) "County chairman" means the county chairman of
a political party or the state chairman if the party has no
chairman for the particular county;
(xiii) "Election," when used without qualifying
adjectives, means all elections participated in by the voters of
a city, town, county, district or the state;
(xiv) "Electronic voting system" is a system
employing an electronic voting device in conjunction with paper
ballots or ballot cards, or other system of secret voting and
automatic tabulating equipment for the recording, tabulating and
counting of votes in an election;
(xv) "Envelope" means any type of container used to
contain or hold election documents;
(xvi) "Independent candidate" is a person who is
running for nomination or election to a public office but who
does not represent a political party;
(xvii) "Major political party" means a political
organization whose candidate for any one (1) of the offices of
the United States house of representatives, governor or
secretary of state, received not less than ten percent (10%) of
the total votes cast for that office in the most recent general
election;
(xviii) "Minor political party" means a political
organization whose candidate for any one (1) of the offices of
the United States house of representatives, governor or
secretary of state, received not less than two percent (2%) nor
more than ten percent (10%) of the total votes cast for that
office in the most recent general election;
(xix) "Municipality" includes a first class city as
defined 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 of
two (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 or attempting to influence, directly or
indirectly, the election or defeat of candidates for public
office, candidate's committees, or political parties, for
support of or opposition to any initiative or referendum
petition drive or for the 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 any other political
subdivision of the state constituting a body corporate, whether
incorporated under general act, special charter, or otherwise;
(xxii) "Pollbook" means a book, or hardware, software
or any combination thereof commonly referred to as an electronic
pollbook, used in a polling place on election day containing
information specified by law;
(xxiii) "Poll list" is the list of registered voters
as compiled by the clerk for use by election judges at the
polls. The poll list shall:
(A) Include the names and residence addresses of
electors registered in the precinct;
(B) Indicate the precinct and various districts
in which each elector resides;
(C) Indicate political party affiliation of the
electors, if any;
(D) Indicate which electors have registered by
mail and must show identification;
(E) Indicate which electors have submitted
absentee ballots in the 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 ballots are processed and counted at the polls;
(IV) Electors who change political party
affiliation at the polls.
(G) Provide for the recording of the same
information for electors who register at the polls;
(H) Provide other space as required for election
management purposes.
(xxiv) "Poll watcher" means a person certified by the
county chairman of a political party to observe voter turn out
and registration. A "poll watcher" is not an election official;
(xxv) "Provisional party" means a political
organization which has filed a legally valid petition as
provided under article 4 of chapter 4 of this code. The filing
of a legally valid petition entitles the provisional party to
participate in the next general election. If the provisional
party's candidate for any one (1) of the offices of the United
States house of representatives, governor or secretary of state,
receives not less than two percent (2%) of the total votes cast
for that office in that election, the provisional party does not
lose party status;
(xxvi) "Qualified elector" includes every citizen of
the United States who is a bona fide resident of Wyoming, has
been a bona fide resident of Wyoming for not less than thirty
(30) days before the date of the election at which he offers to
vote, has registered to vote and will be at least eighteen (18)
years of age on the day of the election at which he may offer to
vote. No person is a qualified elector who is a currently
adjudicated mentally incompetent person, or who has been
convicted of a felony and his civil or voting rights have not
been restored. A literacy test shall not be imposed as a
condition to voting in any election;
(xxvii) "Registration" is the entry and verification
of the name, residence, citizenship and voter information of a
qualified elector on the official registry list, 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 judge during any election specified in
W.S. 22-2-101(a)(i) through (viii);
(xxix) "Registry list" is the list by precinct of the
names, addresses, party affiliations, unique identifying numbers
generated by the state, information relating to absentee ballot
status, registration dates and precinct and district numbers of
the registered electors in the county prepared by the secretary
of state or county clerks for distribution as provided in W.S.
22-2-113;
(xxx) "Residence" is the place of a person's actual
habitation. The construction of this term shall be governed by
the following rules:
(A) Residence is the place where a person has a
current habitation and to which, whenever he is absent, he has
the intention of returning;
(B) A person shall not gain or lose residence
merely by reason of his presence or absence while:
(I) Employed in the service of the United
States or of this state; 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 or installation or at a transient camp maintained
for relief purposes by the government of the United States in
this state. No person shall be excluded as a voter solely
because of his residence on a federal enclave within the state.
This factor shall be considered with all others in the
determination of the person's residence within the state for
voting purposes.
(C) A person shall not lose his residence by
leaving his home to go to another state, another district of
this state, or to another country for temporary purposes, with
the intent of returning, if he has not registered in the other
state, district or country;
(D) A person shall not gain residence in a
county if he enters it without the intent of making it his
current actual residence;
(E) If a person removes to another state with
the intent of making it his residence, he loses his residence in
Wyoming; except that in a general election year, if his
registration is valid in Wyoming when he leaves this state and
he is unable to qualify under the laws of his new state of
residence to vote at the primary or general election, he shall
be deemed to have retained residence in Wyoming for purposes of
voting by absentee ballot in the primary or general election;
(F) A person who takes up or continues his abode
at a place other than where his family resides, shall be a
resident of the place where he actually abides;
(G) Candidates seeking election to the office of
United States senator or representative in congress shall not,
at the time of knowingly seeking nomination or election as
provided by paragraph (liii) of this subsection, claim or
currently be claiming any residence or receive the benefits of
residency from any other state, excluding the benefits of
residency related to or incidental from maintaining a residence
at or near the United States capital.
(xxxi) "Square" for purposes of chapter 6 of this
code shall include a box or oval used to designate the area for
casting a vote;
(xxxii) "Tally sheet" means the document used to
tabulate hand counted paper ballots;
(xxxiii) Repealed by Laws 2018, ch. 118, § 2.
(xxxiv) "Voting device" means:
(A) Repealed By Laws 2008, Ch. 115, § 2.
(B) A device for marking the ballots with ink or
another substance; or
(C) Any other method for recording votes on
ballots so that the ballot may be tabulated by means of
automatic tabulating equipment.
(xxxv) "Write-in vote" is a vote cast for a person
whose name does not otherwise appear on the official ballot as a
candidate for the office for which his name is written in by the
voter;
(xxxvi) "Federal office" means the offices of
president and vice-president of the United States, United States
senator and representative 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 the
posting of campaign signs or the availability of campaign
materials;
(xxxix) "Acceptable identification" means:
(A) For purposes of voter registration, one (1)
of the identification documents or other proof of identity as
specified by rule of the secretary of state as adequate proof of
the identity of a voter;
(B) For purposes of in person voter
identification immediately before voting at a polling place or
absentee polling place, any of the following:
(I) A Wyoming driver's license as defined
by W.S. 31-7-102(a)(xxv);
(II) A tribal identification card issued by
the governing body of the Eastern Shoshone tribe of Wyoming, the
Northern Arapaho tribe of Wyoming or other federally recognized
Indian tribe;
(III) A Wyoming identification card issued
under W.S. 31-8-101;
(IV) A valid United States passport;
(V) A United States military card;
(VI) A driver's license or identification
card issued by any state or outlying possession of the United
States;
(VII) Photo identification issued by the
University of Wyoming, a Wyoming community college or a Wyoming
public school;
(VIII) A valid Medicare insurance card.
This subdivision is repealed effective December 31, 2029;
(IX) A valid Medicaid insurance card. This
subdivision is repealed effective December 31, 2029;
(X) A valid permit issued by the state of
Wyoming to carry a concealed firearm.
(xl) "Canvass" means the audit function that
culminates in the final certification of official election
returns;
(xli) "Provisional ballot" means a ballot provided to
a voter whose right to register or to vote cannot be determined
at the polls or verified at the election office, in order to
allow the voter to cast a ballot at the polls which shall be
counted only if the ballot is determined to be a valid ballot as
provided in this Election Code;
(xlii) "Recount" is the processing of ballots through
the tabulation system for an additional time or times, conducted
for the specific purpose of counting votes again in any specific
race, based upon the criteria of W.S. 22-16-109 or 22-16-111;
(xliii) "Retabulation" is the process of running
ballots back through the tabulation system for an additional
time or times for the express purpose of reconciling the count;
(xliv) "Tribal clerk" means an official designated by
the Eastern Shoshone Tribe and an official designated by the
Northern Arapaho Tribe or an official designated by the
cooperative tribal governing body of the Wind River Indian
Reservation acting pursuant to a cooperative agreement entered
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 registry agent under the direct supervision and
control of the county clerk;
(xlv) "Print" means to write in letters and reproduce
whether on paper or other medium by mechanical, magnetic or
electrical process;
(xlvi) "Voter registration system" means the single,
uniform, official, interactive, computerized, statewide voter
registration system containing the registration information of
every legally registered elector in the state;
(xlvii) "Precinct" means an area with established
boundaries within a political subdivision used for casting and
counting votes;
(xlviii) "Polling place" means the physical location
where voters cast their ballots on election day;
(xlix) "Vote center" means a polling place at which
any registered elector in the political subdivision holding the
election may vote, regardless of the precinct in which he
resides, connected through secure internet connections to
provide voting information to and receive voting information
from the electronic pollbook maintained by the county clerk and
used as an option to traditional polling places at the
discretion of the county clerk;
(l) "Overvote" means a vote placed on a ballot
question in excess of the allowable votes for that ballot
question;
(li) "Undervote" means a vote that could have been
made on a ballot question but which was not made on that ballot
question;
(lii) "Unsuccessful candidate" means a person who did
not win the election but whose name was printed on the ballot
and who received one (1) or more votes in the primary election;
(liii) "Candidate" means any person who knowingly
seeks nomination or election to public office by:
(A) Filing an application for nomination by
primary election, nomination by political party convention or by
petition for nomination;
(B) Write-in, except that this subparagraph
shall not apply to a person elected to public office by write-in
at a general or special election who did not seek or campaign
for election to the office;
(C) Forming a campaign committee; or
(D) Receiving contributions or making
expenditures, or giving consent for any individual to receive
contributions or make expenditures, in order to secure
nomination or election to public office.
(liv) "Air gap" means a security measure where
electronic voting systems and computers used within those
systems are physically isolated from any network and are not
directly or indirectly connected to the internet nor connected
to any other system, network or device that is connected to the
internet;
(lv) "Proof of residence" means the documents or
other proof of residence specified by rule of the secretary of
state, which rule identifies documents or other proof that
establishes residency. If a person does not have the documents
or other proof of residency specified by rule of the secretary
of state, "proof of residence" may be established by a signed
attestation of the person that the person is a bona fide
resident of the state of Wyoming. The attestation shall be
subject to verification by the county clerk or the secretary of
state;
(lvi) "Proof of United States citizenship" means, for
purposes of voter registration, any of the following:
(A) A valid Wyoming driver's license as defined
by W.S. 31-7-102(a)(xxv) or a valid Wyoming identification card
issued under W.S. 31-8-101, provided that the license or
identification card does not contain any indication that the
person is not a United States citizen;
(B) A valid tribal identification card issued by
the governing body of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe or the Northern
Arapaho Tribe of the Wind River Indian Reservation or any other
federally recognized Indian tribe, provided that the
identification card does not contain any indication that the
person is not a United States citizen;
(C) A valid driver's license or identification
card issued by any other state that is consistent with the Real
ID Act as defined by W.S. 31-7-102(a)(lii), provided that the
driver's license or identification card does not include any
indication that the person is not a United States citizen;
(D) A valid United States passport;
(E) A certificate of United States citizenship;
(F) A certificate of naturalization;
(G) A United States military draft record or a
selective service registration acknowledgment card;
(H) A consular report of birth abroad issued by
the United States department of state;
(J) An original or certified copy of a birth
certificate in the United States bearing an official seal.