Across the state, voters changed their party affiliation largely in one direction: from Democratic to Republican. The deadline for registered voters to pick or change a party was May 13, about two weeks before the deadline for candidates to file for office.
Among the dozen counties with clerks that responded to Wyoming Public Radio’s data request, the Republican Party gained more than 1,200 registrants, while the Democratic Party gained more than 200.
Wyoming has closed primaries, meaning voters will only see candidates from their political party on the ballot.
“I think that people have the right to vote for who they want to vote for. And being able to change their party is allowing them to do that,” said Albany County Clerk Kayla White.
While already registered voters used to be able to change party affiliation at the polls, lawmakers changed voting laws in 2023, citing concerns about crossover voting.
First-time voters can choose a party affiliation when they register to vote, which can happen up to and on election day.
According to White, the earlier deadline makes it easier for election clerks to prepare for the primary election.
“It's really hard to figure out how to order ballots when you don't know who your voting population is going to be registered as,” she said. “I think the positive part about having the party change not happen on Election Day is that it allows us to be able to order a better supply of ballots.”
Out of the 23 counties in the state, 12 shared data on party registration this year with Wyoming Public Radio.
In Albany County, 518 registered voters changed their party affiliation. Of those, 316 changed their registration from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party. The rest were switches to other political parties, including the Constitution Party and the Libertarian Party. Albany County also saw 121 unaffiliated voters change their registration to a specific political party.
In Teton County, 426 voters changed their affiliation to the Republican Party, while 76 voters changed it to the Democratic Party.
In Laramie County, 47% of all voters who changed their party affiliation switched from Democratic to Republican.
However, switching party registration wasn’t unique to larger counties. Niobrara County had two voters switch their registration to Republican. Carbon County had 30 voters switch to the Republican Party, one Republican switch to the Democratic Party and one Republican switch to the Conservative Party.
The positions up for election each year may play a role in driving voter registration and party affiliation changes, according to Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee.
“Generally, when you have state races and county races as well as municipal races, it does tend to drive turnout when we have the five top electeds on the ballot,” said Lee.
But party changes can make it hard to find election judges, Lee said, because they need to come from multiple parties.
“When we have a preponderance of one party, it makes it difficult to balance out that population with a third-party person, or a Democrat, in this case,” she said.
The primary election will be held on Aug. 18.
