(Fremont County, WY) – More than 60 percent of local registered voters had already cast their General Election ballots before noon on Tuesday, according to statistics from the Fremont County Clerk’s Office.
“(That) is not a bad number,” Fremont County Clerk Julie Freese said, noting that the total includes in-person ballots cast at the polls so far on Tuesday morning (4,266) as well as early and absentee votes.
Freese said her office had received 2,700 absentee ballots and 3,647 early votes as of Monday evening – and more continued to arrive Tuesday.
The total number of registered Fremont County voters is increasing Tuesday too, she said, rising from 16,317 on Monday evening to more than 17,000 before noon on Election Day.
There was a “small issue” Tuesday morning with about 25 of those same-day registrations that involved inactive voters or voters who weren’t registered in Fremont County, Freese said, but the technical problem has since been resolved.
The issue did “make the lines a little bit longer” on Tuesday morning, Freese said, but “that should now speed up.”
As of about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, she said 1,521 people had cast ballots at the Fremont Center, 1010 Fairgrounds Drive in Riverton, and 1,373 had voted at the Bob Carey Memorial Fieldhouse, 350 Baldwin Creek Road in Lander.
The third-busiest polling place was the Dubois Fire Hall, 8 Third St. in Dubois, where Freese said 381 people had cast ballots Tuesday morning, while the Kinnear Fire Hall, 11521 Hwy. 26, saw 355 ballots cast.
Fremont County’s other polling centers are located in the MP Room at the Arapahoe Admin Building, 455 Little Wind River Bottom Road in Arapahoe; in the gymnasium at Wyoming Indian High School, 638 Blue Sky Highway in Ethete; in the gymnasium at Fort Washakie School, 90 Ft. Washakie School Road in Fort Washakie; and at the Shoshoni Senior Citizens Center, 214 E. Second St. in Shoshoni.
Local voters can cast ballots at any of the polling places, where Freese said so far voters have “all been very cordial, even though there are lines.”
“I have not heard of anybody who is not behaving,” she said. “I have not heard any disturbances.”
She did receive one complaint about law enforcement being present at the polls, but Freese said she asked the officers to be there for security, just like she has for “the last couple of years.”
“I just asked them to please check around the vote centers (and) have a presence,” she said, calling it “a good thing.” “This year they’ve decided to hang out a little bit.”
Polls close at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
For County 10’s 2024 Election coverage, click here.