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CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Mark Gordon exercised his veto authority on Senate File 131- Prohibition on delivery of unsolicited ballot forms today. The Governor signed several bills this session to strengthen election integrity and security, but says that changes made to this bill during the legislative process muddled the bill’s language and intent. The Governor expressed concern that SF 131 as currently written would have resulted in unintended consequences that would compromise election confidence and integrity, and might provide a means to inappropriately suppress proper absentee voting.
SF0131 was brought forward to address the distribution of certain campaign materials and forms to apply for absentee ballots. But, the Governor wrote, clarifying language was removed from the final bill.
“I want to be clear, at no time have I been presented with facts of fraud, mismanagement, or malfeasance in Wyoming’s election process. Even so, over the past month, I have signed those bills which strengthen election integrity and security, such as codifying existing election rules. SF0131, as delivered to my desk, is superfluous and potentially confusing. Consequently, I must veto SF0131,” Governor Gordon wrote.
In his letter he wrote that an amendment in the Senate would have cleaned up the language to avoid confusion but the House struck the amendment.
"Without the benefit of the Senate's clarifying language, the intent of the legislation has been muddled," he wrote.
See the full letter here ..... https://www.wyodaily.com/home/customer_files/pdfs/sf_131_veto_letter_3_17_23.pdf