Natrona County Reports All Precincts; Construction Woes Hampered North Casper Voting

Voting in Natrona County went fairly smoothly Tuesday, with precinct judges bringing their ballots to the elections office in the Old Courthouse soon after the polls closed at 7 p.m.

Tracy Gamroth, who oversaw the Precinct 1-2 polling place at the Natrona County Public Library, said exactly 300 voters cast their ballots.

"It was nice and steady all day," Gamroth said.

The total number of ballots cast probably won't be known until later Tuesday, Natrona County Clerk Renea Vitto said.

As of 8:35 p.m., all 46 precincts in the county had reported their results.

However, voters set a record with a total of 7,106 absentee ballots cast either by early voting at the Old Courthouse or voting by mail, Vitto said.

Meanwhile, Vitto  said she was caught-off guard by the problems with construction around the former Roosevelt school in north Casper.

"We just found this out last night," Renea Vitto said. "I don't know what I could have done."

One voter in north Casper -- Precinct 1-1 with 555 registered voters-- posted a complaint on social media that construction blocked all access to the school, bought by the Casper Housing Authority and now known as The Landing.

The Natrona County Clerk's elections office received only one call with the problem, Vitto said.

The City of Casper did not inform her office about the construction or possible access problems, she said.

Early Tuesday, the Clerk's Office announced voters would need to access the polling place from Durbin and L streets.

Vitto also was not aware that the former school, now a community center, did not have handicap access, she said. "If I had known I would tried to get a ramp out there."

In 2016, Vitto, with the approval of the Natrona County Commission, consolidated 14 precincts at the Industrial Building and six precincts at Restoration Church, 411 Walsh Drive. Vitto made that decision because of complaints about problems at school polling places such as parking, access for the handicapped, tightened school security and construction.

Ironically, if the Precinct 1-1 polling place had stayed at the Fairgrounds, access would not have been a problem, she said.