Wyoming voters will have to navigate some new rules this year. The absentee voting period has shrunk. And crossover voting has been outlawed. That means that if you want to vote in a party primary this year, you’ll have to register as a Republican or Democrat this month before candidate filing begins. To be clear, Wyoming is still a same-day voter registration state, and you can still register on Election Day if you are not already registered. Wyoming Public Radio’s Jeff Victor sat down with Albany County Clerk Kayla White to learn what’s different about this year’s election cycle.
Editor's Note: This story has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
Jeff Victor: Kayla White, thanks for sitting down with me today.
Kayla White: You're welcome. Thank you for having me.
JV: So the reason we're talking today, so many months before the election, is that there are some new rules that voters might not be familiar with. There was a new law passed in 2023, designed to stop crossover voting or voting in a primary for the party that you're not usually affiliated with. That was the idea behind the bill. But what does that mean for the everyday voter? How will this election be different?
KW: Wyoming is a same-day voter registration state. That has not changed. If you're a new registrant, you can still come in and register on Election Day, you can make changes to your voter registration on election day, but you cannot make changes to your party. That is the big change. Historically, voters are used to being able to go in on [Primary] Election Day and saying, ‘Oh, I want to vote for this candidate, so I'm going to switch my party.’ They cannot do that any longer. So if you are already a registered voter in Albany County, and you want to change your party, you will have to do that before May 15.
JV: My colleague, David Dudley, reported that many voters have been purged from voter rolls. These are people, maybe people listening, who were registered to vote. Maybe they voted in 2020, in the last presidential election, but they've been removed. Can you refresh us on what's going on there?
KW: Yep. So Wyoming has a purge process. It sounds so bad when you say ‘purge’ but it's a way to keep our voter rolls clean. So every year, or every two years — purging happens every year, but it's really historically every two years when you have an election. So if you didn't vote in the 2022 general election, your name would be on the purge notice, so you would get a postcard from our office stating that you did not vote in the 2022 election. And if you would like to remain registered, you just have to contact our office, we will keep you registered. There's a 20-day timeframe. And if you did not contact us in that 20-day timeframe, you got purged from the voter rolls. So basically all that means is that you were deactivated. You can still come in and re-register, it's not stopping you from registering again, you just have to go through the process of re-registering is what you have to do.
JV: So if you last voted in 2020, you'll need to register to vote again. And soon if you want to vote in the primary. If you last voted two years ago, then you're still registered to vote. But if you want to change your party affiliation, you should do that before May 15.
KW: Correct. May 15 is the last day you can do it. So you can come in on May 15. But on May 16 when filing starts, you're done.
JV: So what else should voters know heading into this election season — any other changes or anything else you want to share as an election official?
KW: I think the biggest thing other than the party change is absentee voting. So of course, Wyoming is no-excuse absentee. Historically, absentee voting started 45 days prior to every election. In 2023, legislation changed to limit the timeframe of absentee voting. Overseas military voters still have that 45 days, but regular absentee voters only have 28 days now to vote. So if you're going to request your absentee ballot, you can do that all the way up until the day before the election. But just note that your timeframe has decreased. So as you all may know, with the mail system changing, we don't have the distribution center overnight anymore. All the mail goes through Denver. Your timeframe might be a little less. The mail system is great when it works, but it can have a little lag time there. So just note that, for the primary election, the first day to absentee vote is July 23. And then for the general election, the first day to absentee vote will be October 8. So your timeframes are just shorter now.
JV: So, in closing, I'm hoping you can make the case for electoralism — or the idea that people should even vote at all. I certainly have friends who have said, you know, they don't want to go to the trouble of voting. If they like Trump, they know he's probably going to win Wyoming. If they like Biden, they know their vote isn't really going to change that. If they hate both of them, they're saying, why should I bother going out on election day at all? What would you say to that?
KW: I think the biggest thing is that they're not the only candidates on the ballot. We have local candidates that are up — we have city council, we have county commissioner. I think it's important to know that your vote counts, even though you may feel that way. Yes, Wyoming is a red state. If Trump's on the ballot, Wyoming's probably going to [choose him] and that's okay. But that doesn't mean that you can't express how you feel through voting. And it is really important to vote for those local candidates because they're really the ones that make the changes in your everyday life.
