Voters roundly defeated a proposed Constitutional Amendment that would have allowed non-residents to serve on the University of Wyoming’s Board of Trustees.
The Wyoming Constitution specifies that anyone serving on the Board of Trustees should be eligible to vote in the state. The amendment would have allowed the Governor to appoint up to two non-residents to the 13-person Board.
The measure got little attention in the lead up to the election, with no one campaigning for or against it. Proponents said it would allow for a wider pool of candidates, citing the fact that more than half of UW alumni live out of state. Opponents pointed out the amendment didn’t actually include a requirement that the candidates be alumni. They also questioned the implication that there aren’t enough qualified people in Wyoming to serve on the Board.
Voters overwhelmingly sided with the opponents, with 70 percent casting ‘no’ votes. Abstaining counted against the measure.