State lawmakers and Fremont County commissioners are not taking immediate action on the secretary of state’s call for an “immediate” reexamination of Wyoming’s electoral map, with a focus on districts intersecting with the Wind River Reservation.
That’s in response to a high-profile U.S. Supreme Court ruling in April. In Louisiana v. Callais, justices limited how much race can be considered when drawing electoral districts.
Soon after, Secretary of State Chuck Gray sent letters to Gov. Mark Gordon and Fremont County commissioners asking them to respectively look at House District 33 and the Fremont County Commission. He requested that they act to “ensure compliance” in light of the Supreme Court’s decision, given Gray’s belief that those voting maps were drawn with race in mind.
“I wish to bring to your attention Wyoming’s 2022 Legislative redistricting legislation, in which the Legislature gave consideration to race in drawing House District 33 in Fremont County,” Gray wrote to Gordon. “I believe House District 33’s boundaries need to examined to ensure compliance with Callais.”
Two state representatives in Montana made a similar call in a guest column in the news outlet the Flathead Beacon, and a contested voting map related to tribal communities in North Dakota is being reexamined in light of the decision.
The Eastern Shoshone Business Council voiced its opposition to Gray’s request in a letter posted on Facebook, writing, “Our districts have helped ensure that Tribal members, rural communities and historically underrepresented populations finally have a voice in decisions affecting public funding, infrastructure, education, law enforcement, health care, and economic development for all Wyoming residents – Native and non-Native.”
The Northern Arapaho Business Council also shared its own statement opposing the request, writing, “The practical effect of these actions would be the dilution of the Indian vote and the elimination of fair opportunities for Native representation in elected office, including threatening the continued representation of Representative Ivan Posey, the only enrolled Tribal member currently serving in the Wyoming Legislature as House District 33 Representative.”
In 1991, a federal court ruled that Wyoming’s system of electing representatives based on county lines violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. That paved the way for the creation of districts that were disconnected from county lines. House District 33 was redrawn following the 2020 census, a change approved by the Wyoming Legislature in 2022.
The Fremont County Commission has been broken into five separate districts since 2010, when a federal court ruled that the county’s previous at-large model was discriminatory against Native voters.
Wyoming’s single federal congressional district and state legislative districts are routinely redrawn every 10 years. The next process will be based on data from the upcoming 2030 census. Those new plans will be finalized and approved by the Wyoming Legislature in 2032.
Legislature’s discussion
Gray brought the issue up at a Joint Corporations, Elections & Political Subdivisions Committee meeting in Lander on May 22, but his request didn’t spark much action with the group of lawmakers.
“This is not going to be settled in this forum,” said Sen. Cale Case (R-Lander), who co-chairs the committee and represents part of Fremont County. “We're not the [Fremont] County Commission, so we don't have a thing to do about that … We could propose a bill to redistrict [state legislative seats] as a committee, but we have no power. We're just a committee, so let's remember that nothing is going to happen right immediately.”
Case emphasized that, in his opinion, the current districts weren’t created just on the basis of race.
“Tribes are sovereign,” he said. “They have their own government, and they have relationships with the federal government that are different than any other entity, certainly different than cities and towns do with respect to the state.”
Case also pointed to the fact that different tribal nations set their own unique criteria for what it means to be an enrolled member, which he said leans more towards “political determination” rather than race.
When asked by Rep. Mike Yin (D-Jackson) whether he had plans to bring up a lawsuit challenging the districts, Gray said his current position doesn’t allow him to.
“ The Secretary of State is an officer of the state of Wyoming, so I could not officially challenge the ruling because the A.G. [attorney general] represents me,” said Gray.
According to Case, both the governor’s office and the Fremont County Commission have forwarded their respective letters from Gray to the attorney general’s office for guidance.
“I think the governor needs to provide a path forward here on how he's going to address compliance with Callais sooner rather than later … I think he needs to be clear on what his path forward is,” said Gray. “Is he just going to say that the state is going to defend the map?”
At the time of publication, no known legal challenge has been brought against the state of Wyoming in relation to the Supreme Court’s Callais decision.
Public comments were largely in opposition to the request or asked for careful consideration in moving forward.
Mark Harris is a former Sweetwater County lawmaker who was the minority floor leader when House District 33 was “essentially created” back in 2001.
“The first criteria that was established was districts should be continuous, compact and reflect a community of interest,” said Harris. “House District 33 represents a community of interest. The Wind River Reservation is a community of interest. I live on the reservation. I have family that lives on the reservation. Anything that affects the reservation affects me and I am not an enrolled tribal member.”
Northern Arapaho Business Councilman Jesse Crispin pointed to the council’s letter opposing Gray’s request and emphasized that “it’s not based on race.”
“We try to work with the state as much as possible and we listen … We hope it's reciprocated to us, that you guys are listening to us as well,” said Cripsin. “For us, redistricting now would be not the best idea right now, because I remember a time when there was no representation for either tribe.”
But Karen Wetzel of Lander voiced her support for Gray’s decision to bring up the question of redistricting House District 33 and Fremont County.
“The people in the county have a right to choose their elected officials, whether they're Black, white, Asian, American Indian or any other race,” she said. “No districts, no discrimination. We're all equal. That's how I was brought up.”
Following public comment, lawmakers decided not to take any immediate action on the issue, with Rep. Steve Johnson (R-Cheyenne) reaching across the political aisle to agree with Democrat Mike Yin.
“I think we'd be better off to not poke the dog, the sleeping dog, and just let it go,” said Johnson.
The committee agreed to revisit the issue at its next meeting in September.
Fremont County discussion
The Fremont County Commission met on May 19, a few days after receiving Gray’s letter.
“We've asked the attorney general's office to give us an opinion on Chuck Gray's demand letter and we're currently waiting on that. We will take that under advisement,” said Chair Larry Allen.
One person who showed up for the meeting’s public comment period brought it up.
“I would hope that you remember the process that gave our Native neighbors their own district in representation in Cheyenne,” said Margie Farias. “We should all be proud of that decision. I urge you to disregard the insulting suggestion by Wyoming's Secretary of State to dismantle District 33.”
The commission has not yet posted its agenda for its next meeting on June 2.
