Natrona County Voters Are Patient and Plentiful on Tuesday

Democracy was kind to Natrona County on Tuesday.

The lines were long, the numbers of voters appeared to outpace previous years, and there were a lot of newbies or renewed registrants at the polling places during the general election.

Jennifer Mitchell, elections coordinator for the polling place at St. Patrick's Church, 400 Country Club Road, said the hundreds of voters there were patient, polite, considerate, and 98% wore face masks.

"It has been wonderful," Mitchell said. The seven precincts at the church were formerly at the Community Health Center of Central Wyoming.

When the poll opened at 7 a.m., people had lined up from the door of the church to end of the parking lot, she said. 'It's been nonstop all day," Mitchell said.

She and elections officials at the consolidated polls with six precincts from east Casper at Restoration Church, 411 S. Walsh Drive, and 14 precincts at the Industrial Building at the Fairgrounds all reported steady numbers all day, with lines expanding several times.

"I think the people of Casper are pretty high quality people," Mitchell said.

See Natrona County & Wyoming Election Results Here

Rob Hendry, who was welcoming the voters in the lobby, said the line of voters stretched from the Industrial Building to the Fairgrounds gate three time, and he expected a fourth such long line before the polls closed.

The elections officials also said they received no reports of voter intimidation, no electioneering within 100 yards of the polls and no disruptions.

Eileen Hill, the county's information technology director, said some people entering the Industrial Building wore MAGA hats or T-shirts with political messages, which constitutes electioneering. When asked to take off the hats or cover the T-shirts, the voters complied, she said.

Hill also pointed to the marked jump in voter registration.

Two months ago, there were about 27,200 registered voters.

As of Monday night, there were 32,753 registered voters, she said.

Half those who cast ballots at the Industrial Building were new voters, or those whose registrations had lapsed because they didn't vote in 2018.

Hill said that one new voter had just received their naturalization papers on Monday night, and exercised their new right to vote on Tuesday.

Follow election coverage tonight at K2 Radio News.