The Fremont County Canvass of Tuesday’s election results was held on Friday at the courthouse with both Republican and Democratic Party Officials present along with the county clerk and election staff representatives. Four absentee ballots that had not been county were approved along with three provisional ballots that had been cast. The results did not change any election results, which were certified. Any write in candidate that received votes will be contacted and if they wish to run in the general election, they will be required to fill out a nomination form and pay the filing fee.

The County Clerk’s News Release is copied below:

On Friday, August 19, 2022, Fremont County Clerk Julie Freese convened the Primary 2022 Canvass Board at 10:00 a.m. for the purpose of making the Unofficial Results of the Primary Election –Official.  Serving on the Canvass Board were:  Republican Chairman Ginger Bennett and Democratic Chairman Polly Hinds.  The three board members took an oath of office.  Clerk Freese explained that the voting machine in the room was still sealed from the testing and sealing done prior to election day and that the board would be using this machine following a review of ballots that may be counted.  The seals were read and approved on the official seal sheet.  The seal was cut off and the machine was opened.  The second seal was taken off and the machine was set to print a zero tape.  The board read the tape to be sure all candidates showed a beginning total of 0.  This was signed by all board members and dated. 

Clerk Freese discussed that there were provisional ballots to review and that there were 4 absentee ballots that were returned on time to the County Clerk’s Main office, but she had forgotten to pick them up on Election Day for the Absentee Ballot Board to count.  Clerk Freese moved to go into Executive Session and the purpose was to protect Confidential Voter Information.  After the Executive Session, all 4 absentee ballots had been approved and counted on the machine and the three provisional ballots had been reviewed and approved and were counted on the machine.  The machine was closed and the tape printed out the results and the tape was signed by the board.  Deputy Clerk Margy Irvine took the USB media to the Electionware Computer to have it compile these results with the unofficial results and the official results were brought back into the Canvass Board proceedings.  In the meantime, while waiting for these documents, it was noted that the other machine in the room was a machine that was used in the Primary Election and that by statute, 5% of the machines must be retested which meant 1 for Fremont County.  The Election Office had run all 1036 test ballots (same as the testing and sealing procedure before the election) and the results had been printed.  Chairman Bennett and Chairman Hinds reviewed the tape while Clerk Freese read the expected outcomes report.  The board signed the tape and a certificate that the audit was complete.  Clerk Freese mentioned the Secretary of State also had a post-election audit that will occur before the State Canvass Board meets (Wed, August 25, 2022).  Clerk Freese mentioned that two party representatives (likely the same as the canvass board members) will soon be scheduled to look at randomly selected ballots sent to us from the Secretary of State and compare the voted ballot to how the machine counted them.  There are approximately 383 ballots and all state races will be compared. 

The official results were presented and the board proceeded to announce the winning nominees in the county partisan races (all US, State and Legislative races will be canvassed by the State Canvassing Board).  Municipal races (non-partisan) were also nominated and double the amount to be elected moved onto the General (example a vote for 1 allowed to candidates to move to the General).  Some races with not enough candidates to move forward had enough write-in entries to allow the board to approve their qualifications to run for that seat.  Write-in nominees will be contacted and if they wish to run, they will fill out a nomination form, pay the filing fee and will be included on the General Election ballot. 

The meeting adjourned at 12:05 p.m.