Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884

Crossover bill crosses chambers

Most of the legislation aimed at reforming the election process in Wyoming has failed to make it past the halfway point of this year’s budget session. However, one bill that would make a significant change to how citizens of this state cast their ballots passed out of the Senate on Monday morning.

Senate File 97 would end “crossover voting” in Wyoming, a practice in which voters have historically had the option to switch their party affiliation right up until the moment they are handed a ballot. The bill was introduced by Senator Bo Biteman and both Senator Ogden Driskill and Representative Chip Neiman signed on as sponsors.

Should the bill pass, voters would be required to declare or change their party affiliation – and file that declaration with the county clerk – before “the first day on which an application for nomination may be filed”.

In other words, the cut-off date for picking a party would be the day before candidates may begin filing for office, which is approximately three months before the primary election itself. Voters will therefore need to declare their party affiliation before they know who will be running on the partisan ballot.

The bill has the support of President Donald Trump, who released a statement through a spokesperson on Twitter.

“This critically important bill ensures that the voters in each party will separately choose their nominees for the General Election, which is how it should be!” he said, offering the bill his “complete and total endorsement and support.”

Crossover voting has become a hot-button topic recently, partly due to the vocal displeasure of those who would like to see U.S. Representative Liz Cheney ousted from her seat. Bills to limit the ability of voters to switch parties right up until election day have been presented a number of times before, but legislators have been signaling for months that the 2022 session would see action taken.

Neiman, for example, told Crook County residents at a town hall last year that Cheney’s race highlights the problem. Crossover voting was the inspiration for a controversial pledge he asked fellow legislators to sign that read, “I hereby pledge to vote for the crossover vote bill as introduced to the 2021 Legislative session of the Wyoming House and the runoff election bill related to all Wyoming elections for U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate and the top five state elected officials.”

As well as pushback from various advocacy groups, not all legislators have agreed with the idea. At a meeting of the Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee at which various options for voting reform were discussion, Senator Cale Case expressed concern the bill is a waste of time because so many people are opposed, which he said is because, “I’m looking at a Republican party that wants to win, not one that wants to govern.”

Senate File 97 passed out of the Senate with a vote of 18-12 and was introduced to the House on Monday.

Neiman’s bill to introduce run-off elections and its accompanying constitutional amendment were not considered for introduction in the House, while a bill to remove political parties from elections failed introduction in the House by a vote of 14-46.