Wyoming has the Most Powerful Voters

With the general election only a week away, it's worth remembering just how powerful a vote in Wyoming is compared to a state like California, Colorado, or Utah.

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According to a report by WalletHub, voters in Wyoming have the greatest voting power when voting in the Senate, for governor, and overall.

It calculated Wyoming's top score of 2.99 by adding the state's score from the three other positions, which were each reached by dividing the state's voting-age population by the number of positions.

Vermont was in second at 2.52, followed by North Dakota and Alaska at 2.26, with Arizona in 50th at 0.53, with neighboring states Colorado in 16th at 1.04 and Utah in 19th at 0.98.

While Wyoming was on top for the Senate and governor, it ranked 13th for the House, with Minnesota at first, because WalletHub added extra weight to House races that are competitive, which Wyoming's House race isn't.

Due to the gap in voting power, a Wyoming Senate voter, which has a score of 4.48, has 68.3 times the power as a voter in California, which has a Senate score of 0.07.

This allows states with a smaller population, which tend to vote Republican, a much greater voting power than states with a bigger population, which tend to vote Democrat.

According to the report, the average score for states that tend to vote Democrat is 28.92, compared to states that tend to vote Republican have an average score of 22.08, with a lower score leading to greater voting power.

This is also true when voting for president every four years.

In 2020, California had 55 electoral votes for its 30,576,844 citizens who could vote, compared to Wyoming's three electoral votes for its 449,237 citizens who could vote.

Using the same calculation WalletHub did, that would equal a score of 6.67 for Wyoming compared to a score of 1.79 for California.

This has led some states to sign onto the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, where state legislatures pledge to put their electoral votes towards the presidential candidate that wins the most votes overall and not just in their state.

So far 16 states, equaling 195 electoral votes, have passed popular vote bills which will only take effect when states totaling 270 electoral votes have passed the same bill.