Wheatland voting-equipment retest result not clearly posted

Platte County announced a public retest of three electronic voting tabulators at the county courthouse in Wheatland on Saturday, July 25, as absentee voting began for Wyoming’s Aug. 18 primary. As of July 29, the county’s publicly available election-results page does not clearly show an official result from that retest.

Residents should distinguish between the county’s announced testing process and any conclusion about whether the equipment passed or failed. A July 22 notice from the Platte County clerk’s office described when and how the test was scheduled, but it did not establish a final result.

Three tabulators were included

The scheduled test covered the electronic tabulator used for absentee ballots and two spare tabulators. The notice identified those three machines as the equipment to be tested before being sealed and prepared for Election Day use.

The notice did not say that every voting device in Platte County would be tested during this event. Ballot-marking devices and tabulators assigned to Election Day polling places were specifically excluded from this retest.

That distinction matters for voters trying to understand the scope of the process. The July 25 event was a targeted test of three tabulators, not a public statement about all election equipment used across the county.

How the public could observe

The test was scheduled for 9 a.m. in the Commissioner Room of the Platte County Courthouse at 800 9th St. in Wheatland. The notice directed visitors to use the east entrance.

Political-party representatives, representatives of independent candidates and at least three members of the public were to be allowed into the room under Wyoming law. Seating was limited, so public access depended on available space.

After testing, the notice said the equipment would be sealed and prepared for use in the election. It also described a five-day period for challenging the use of electronic voting equipment after sealing. That provision should not be confused with a general voter-complaint process; it was tied specifically to the equipment procedure described in the notice.

Where the test fits in the election calendar

Wyoming’s 2025-2026 election calendar lists Aug. 4 as the deadline for county clerks to conduct public voting-machine tests. Platte County’s announced July 25 test was scheduled before that statewide deadline.

Absentee voting for the Aug. 18 primary began July 21 and continues through Aug. 17. The Wyoming Secretary of State says absentee ballots must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day, Aug. 18.

For the official record of the Platte County test, residents should check with the county clerk’s office and the county’s election-results page. Until a follow-up county record clearly reports what occurred on July 25, the public notice supports a description of the planned process—not a claim that the tabulators passed, failed or revealed a problem.

Sources

• Platte County Public Test of Voting Equipment Notice
• Wyoming 2025-2026 Election Calendar