Wyoming Crossover Voting Bill Defeated In Senate Committee

A bill that was aimed at eliminating crossover voting in Wyoming was voted down in a legislative committee on Thursday, marking the latest failure of legislation aimed at people who change parties to vote in state primary elections.

You can read House Bill 103 here. The measure would have prevented people from changing their party affiliation at 96 days before the primary election.

While it was not the only bill aimed at crossover voting filed this session, as of Thursday it was the last remaining one. It's defeat means crossover voting will remain legal in Wyoming, at least for this year.

The bill had passed the House recently on a 51-9 vote, But it was defeated in the Senate Elections, Corporations and Political Subdivisions Committee by a 3-1 margin. Sens. Charles Scott, Eric Barlow and Cale Case--all Republicans--voted against the bill. Sen. Brian Boner, also a Republican--was the lone yes vote.

Opponents of crossover voting in Wyoming primary elections have been trying for years to get the practice banned, so far without final success.

But crossover  voting opponents were energized even prior to that by the 2018 GOP gubernatorial primary election in which Mark Gordon defeated Foster Friess. Gordon was widely viewed as the more moderate of the two leading candidates, and a phone campaign just ahead of the primary had urged state Democrats to crossover and vote for Gordon.

Supporters of banning crossover voting, mostly Republicans, have said that the current law allowing people to change their party affiliation right through primary election day allows Democrats to interfere in GOP primaries.

Opponents of such legislation have argued that it restricts voters' right to cast a ballot for whomever they support, and say voter freedom of voter choice should take precedent over the right of political parties to control the makeup of the primary electorate.

Here is a video of the committee meeting: