by Communications Director Mandy Weaver
Thanks to changes in the voting rules made by Secretary of State Chuck Gray and his Conservative pals in the legislature, voting in Wyoming is harder than ever.
One of the most irritating of these changes is that the deadline for registered voters to change their party affiliation is now May 15th, a day before the candidate filing period even starts. It forces you to choose party over people.
It stinks. It makes some folks think that the best thing they can do is register as a Republican and pick the “lesser of two evils” in the primary.
Here’s why you shouldn’t.
💸 Registering as a Republican transfers money from more moderate Republican county parties to the more radical GOP State Party to fund their dystopian agenda. Their county party dues are calculated based on the percentage of registered Republicans in each county- the more registered Republicans, the more money the state party gets. (see Sec. 12.2 of WYGOP bylaws)
💪 Wyoming needs more Democrats, not less. How can we build a strong Democratic Party and elect more Democrats if all the Democrats are registered as Republicans? The best way to change this state for the better is to have a vibrant two-party system. We need to invest in and focus on demonstrating that our party is the voice of reason and effective government.
📈 It’s difficult to recruit candidates when they see the imbalance of party registration numbers in their district. Currently, about 1 in 10 voters is registered as a Democrat. We know there are more people who are Democrats at heart, but it is increasingly difficult to find our supporters.
🫥 It’s important to be visible and proud of being Wyoming Democrats. And why wouldn’t we be? We’re on the right side of the issues and history. We stand with our neighbors to protect their fundamental rights, to make this state a place our children can call home, to preserve our public lands for future generations, and to ensure top-quality public education for everyone. Our elected Democrats may be few in number, but they are intelligent and compassionate fighters who get things done. We have a lot to be proud of, and the more of us that are willing to stand up and speak out about who we are, the safer it makes others feel to do the same.
👿 The “lesser of two evils” is still…evil. Every bit of the energy we spend on Republican candidates is a bit of energy we aren’t spending on supporting or recruiting our own good candidates. I can’t tell you how disheartening it is for the amazing folks who bravely step forward and run as Democrats in the reddest state in the nation to feel like they end up fighting not only their opponent but for the attention of folks in their own party as well.
☑️ If there’s one thing the new voter restrictions should tell you, it’s that free and fair elections are in jeopardy. In counties across Wyoming, there are efforts, supported by Republican legislators, to return to hand-counting ballots. Our Secretary of State is seemingly on a neverending quest to restrict voting down to only the landed gentry. We cannot protect and ensure our free and fair elections without real Democrats as election judges and we cannot find those folks if they aren’t registered as Democrats. It is becoming alarmingly common for Republicans to register as Democrats so that they can serve as election judges.
😵 Switching parties to change the outcome of a Republican primary is a strategy that has been tried many times in Wyoming politics, most notably and recently in support of Liz Cheney, and… It just doesn’t work. The numbers have been thoroughly crunched, crossover voting didn’t impact either the Governor Gordon’s race or Liz Cheney’s. The bottom line is- switching parties doesn’t help them but it absolutely does hurt us. We are already outnumbered, and losing an estimated 20% of Democrats makes a devastating impact.
😎 Wyoming Democrats are some of the bravest, most badass people on the planet. You should be one!