Senate File 0097 introduced last week by Wyoming State Senator Bo Biteman is intended to address election integrity by prohibiting the practice of crossover voting. The bill is expected to be debated in the Senate Corporations Committee Tuesday morning. Sheridan Media’s Ron Richter has more.
Civics 307 Shares Data on Elections
Crossover voting is when members of one political party change their party affiliation to vote in the competing party’s primary election, then switch back to their original party affiliation. I recently spoke with Civics 307 Founder Gail Symons about SF 0097 and how it pertains to crossover voting.
Gail Symons
Symons said the crossover voter issues came to a head in 2018 in Wyoming during the primary for the governor’s race.
Gail Symons
Symons said in the 2018 election—only 6,057 Democrats changed their affiliation to Republican. While fewer in numbers at 4,505, a greater percentage of unaffiliated changed to Republican. The total was insufficient to change the outcome of the Governor’s race which initiated the data review. Further, of the overall 11,039 who changed to Republican, only 668 changed back.
Gail Symons
Symons said Wyomingites want opportunities that will give them more access to secure and fair elections and ways to make sure voter participation stays high and the winner gets a majority of the votes, but SF 0097 won’t accomplish that, so Civics 307 will continue to work with other nonpartisan partners on solutions that will meet the needs of our state’s voters while supporting the rights of political parties.
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Last modified: February 22, 2022