Corps Committee Dives Into Election Changes in 2024

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With the 2024 election less than a year away, the Wyoming Legislature will consider changes to Wyoming’s statewide election laws in February that will impact everything from how long you have to live in the Cowboy State to vote to reporting requirements on who is trying to influence your vote. “At AARP Wyoming, we know no group values their right to vote more than the age 50+,” says AARP Wyoming State Director Sam Shumway. “That is why we keep an eye on bills that impact voting rights, methods, and who is trying to change your minds when it comes to an election.”

After meeting four times in the interim, the Wyoming Legislature’s Corporations, Elections, and Political Subdivisions Committee has decided to sponsor a few bills in the 2024 session. This came after a nearly day-long presentation demonstrating the election process and fraud prevention efforts from the state’s County Clerks, who administer Wyoming’s elections.

Did you know there was no requirement for how long you have to live in Wyoming before you are allowed to vote? That is the issue the committee hopes to clarify with a committee-sponsored bill that would require voters to have lived in the state for 30 days prior to the election day before being allowed to vote. Voters will be required to sign an attestation (an oath) that they have lived here at least 30 days before being allowed to vote in state elections. Voters who have moved from another state will still be eligible to vote for president in a presidential election year. According to the Legislative Service Office, five of our neighboring states currently have durational residency requirements. Nebraska being the sole state without a durational residency requirement.

Wyoming’s County Clerks did not take a position on this bill.

While the election is still months away, at least two sitting lawmakers have had postcards sent to their constituents deriding their efforts in the Capitol. However, neither postcard was signed and there is no explanation for who sent them.

That is the issue another Corps Committee bill aims to address, as it would redefine a campaign organization as two or more people that pools or jointly spends more than $1,000 for the purpose of influencing an election. If the law passes, those organizations would need to either report who they are to the secretary of state, or list their names on the campaign materials.

Other election-related bills being forwarded to the 2024 session include:

• A bill prohibiting private funds to be used for conducting elections.
• A bill clarifying candidates for legislative office must have lived in the state for one year before the general election in which they are running.
• Trying to impede or impact an election by intimidation, be it verbal, or physical, or through financial threat will be a crime if yet another bill is passed this session. If the intimidation is deemed very bad it can result in a felony.

The Corps Committee voted not to sponsor a bill to address a concerning loophole in the 2023 law that banned crossover voting. Specifically, the bill would have dealt with those who weren’t registered to vote in the state after the deadline in which a change in party affiliation would be prohibited (think of someone turning 18 after the deadline has passed). The bill that was proposed during the 2024 interim was deemed not to be the right vehicle for this instance and others.