Props to the county clerk, her staff and election judges

Each Election Day, I work for Associated Press covering the votes in Big Horn County. This means I’m in the courthouse in Basin by 6:45 p.m. waiting for the election judges to bring in the votes from throughout the county.

The polls close at 7 p.m. It takes a while for the first votes to arrive from the polling places. It never fails that the phones start ringing as early as 7:15 p.m. with people asking for election results.

Big Horn County has 13 polling places. Thirteen! Washakie County has two. Hot Springs County has four.

Our county is big, landwise, as well. It’s 58 miles from Frannie to the courthouse. If the polls close at 7 p.m. there is no way any of those votes can be in the courthouse by 7:15 p.m. or even 7:30 p.m. Hyattville is more than 30 miles away.

At each polling place the election judges must follow a list of procedures to pack up the votes and equipment before bringing them to the courthouse. The votes arrive in a locked tote. There is an entire procedure to go through once they deliver the votes.

 It takes time to make sure our votes are secure. Once all 13 precincts are checked in with the county clerk’s office, the votes are counted. It makes for a long day for this office. Last week, I left the courthouse at 11:30 p.m. Smallwood, Ruth Craft and Amanda Nelson stayed well after that. They had come into the office at 5:30 a.m. They are back in the office the day after the election before 8 a.m. 

They immediately start the canvassing procedures. What is the canvass? The canvass a meeting of a bi-partisan appointed board that conducts the official tally of votes for any given election. The purpose of the canvass is to account for every ballot cast and ensure that every valid vote cast is included in the election totals. The canvass accounts for every ballot cast on Election Day, every on-time absentee ballot, every accepted provisional ballot, and every on-time overseas and military absentee ballot. After this is done, the election results become official.

The entire clerk’s office spends months preparing for the elections. Not hours, not days...months.

The nearly 80 Big Horn County election judges often spend more than 14 hours at the polls on Election Day. They are there before 7 a.m. and leave well after 7 p.m., then some drive to the courthouse in Basin. In the case of the towns on the north end of the county, the votes are collected in Lovell, then driven to Basin. To be an election judge you must go through training hours as well.

Voting is a privilege. At the same time, it is one that takes an amazing amount of work to make that privilege possible. Thank you to all that do that work. We are grateful.