{"id":2388698,"date":"2025-01-10T07:18:02","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T12:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wyomings-elections-chief-lays-out-bold-2025-agenda\/"},"modified":"2025-01-10T07:20:27","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T12:20:27","slug":"wyomings-elections-chief-lays-out-bold-2025-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wyomings-elections-chief-lays-out-bold-2025-agenda\/","title":{"rendered":"Wyoming&#8217;s Elections Chief Lays Out Bold 2025 Agenda"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwyomings-elections-chief-lays-out-bold-2025-agenda%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2388698&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Wyoming, \u2063despite having a Republican governor\u2064 and supermajority in its\u2063 legislature, has been slow to adopt election integrity laws. This stagnation is partly due to resistance from\u2064 certain GOP\u200d members.\u200b Recent attempts by the \u200dWyoming \u2064Freedom Caucus (WYFC) to legislate against outside funding\u200b for\u2062 election administration\u2014such \u2063as &#8220;Zuckbucks,&#8221; funds from nonprofits during the 2020 election\u2014were \u2064thwarted by a GOP-run House \u2063committee. However, with the WYFC gaining a majority, Secretary of State \u200dChuck gray\u2064 plans to\u200c push for reforms in \u2062the upcoming legislative\u200b session, including a\u2064 prohibition on such funding and\u2063 requirements for proof \u200cof citizenship to register to vote. These efforts aim \u200cto enhance\u200c the integrity of elections in Wyoming, which is uniquely positioned to implement\u2063 more stringent voting laws due to its\u200d exemption from certain\u200b federal requirements. Gray believes that these measures could position Wyoming as a\u200b leader in conservative election\u200c reforms.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>With a Republican governor and GOP supermajorities in the state legislature, it would be logical to assume that Wyoming has some of the most secure elections in the country &mdash; but that is simply not the case.<\/p>\n<p>Despite Republicans&rsquo; dominance of state government, the Cowboy State has failed to adopt laws improving the integrity of its electoral system. This can be attributed to, in large part, resistance from liberal GOP legislators. <\/p>\n<p>During last year&rsquo;s budget session, for instance, members of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus (WYFC) attempted to pass legislation prohibiting private entities from funding election administration in the state. The bill sought to stave off the influence of &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/10\/12\/the-2020-election-wasnt-stolen-it-was-bought-by-mark-zuckerberg\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Zuckbucks<\/a>&rdquo; &mdash; monies given to local election offices by various left-wing nonprofits during the 2020 election that were ultimately used to the benefit of Democrats. <\/p>\n<p>While the measure received effectively <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/02\/22\/wyoming-is-the-epicenter-of-americas-fake-red-state-problem\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">unanimous support<\/a> upon its introduction, a GOP-run House committee voted to table the bill in an apparent act of retaliation against the WYFC, whose members&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/cowboystatedaily.com\/2024\/02\/13\/some-legislators-mad-as-house-kills-record-13-committee-bills-on-introduction\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">voted down<\/a>&nbsp;several establishment-backed bills introduced earlier in the session. The petty maneuver prevented Wyoming from joining the <a href=\"https:\/\/capitalresearch.org\/article\/states-banning-zuck-bucks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">growing list<\/a> of states (28) that have successfully banned or restricted private election funding.<\/p>\n<p><strong>[Exclusive:[Exclusive:<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/10\/03\/exclusive-wyoming-elections-chief-warns-local-officials-of-2024-zuckbucks-interference\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Wyoming Elections Chief Warns Local Officials Of 2024 &lsquo;Zuckbucks&rsquo; Interference<\/a>]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Now, with the WYFC having secured an outright House majority last year, Secretary of State Chuck Gray is seizing the opportunity to advance a prohibition on &ldquo;Zuckbucks&rdquo; and other <a href=\"https:\/\/sos.wyo.gov\/Media\/2025\/SoS_Release_2025-01-06.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">overdue election measures<\/a> in the Cowboy State&rsquo;s upcoming legislative session. From proof of citizenship requirements to improvements to voter list maintenance, Wyoming&rsquo;s elections chief is aiming to reshape the state&rsquo;s election laws with reforms long supported by grassroots activists. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This is a really comprehensive plan for us to move the ball forward [in Wyoming], and our administration is committed to advanc[ing] election integrity,&rdquo; Gray told The Federalist.<\/p>\n<h2>The Agenda<\/h2>\n<p>Like many Republicans concerned about noncitizens potentially impacting U.S. elections, Gray maintained that ensuring only eligible Americans can register to vote and cast ballots is paramount in ensuring integrity in Wyoming elections.<\/p>\n<p>The secretary detailed plans to <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">advance legislation mandating prospective voters show proof<\/a> of citizenship (POC) when registering to vote. A draft of the bill obtained by The Federalist lists several examples of acceptable POC, including a valid state-issued driver&rsquo;s license or ID card &ldquo;provided it does not contain any indication that the applicant is not a United States citizen,&rdquo; a valid U.S. passport, a &ldquo;certificate of United States citizenship,&rdquo; and others.<\/p>\n<p>According to Gray, if Wyoming Republicans are successful in implementing such requirements, it would make the Cowboy State the &ldquo;only state in the union that has proof of citizenship for all races.&rdquo; As The Federalist&rsquo;s Matt Kittle previously <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/01\/12\/elon-musk-rightly-says-arizona-doesnt-verify-federal-voter-citizenship-but-the-feds-dont-let-them\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in 2013 effectively prohibiting most states from requiring POC for federal voter registration under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). <\/p>\n<p>In Arizona, for example, the state cannot deny someone the ability to vote in federal elections if they fail to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-administration-sues-arizona-over-proof-of-citizenship-requirement-for-federal-elections\/\" title=\"Biden Administration Sues Arizona Over Proof Of Citizenship Requirement For Federal Elections\">show documentary proof<\/a> of citizenship. Prospective Arizona voters must provide documentary proof of citizenship to vote in all races (including state and local), while those who fail to provide such proof but meet all other eligibility requirements are registered as &ldquo;federal-only voters&rdquo; and may only cast ballots in federal races. <\/p>\n<p>Wyoming is one of six states <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/crt\/national-voter-registration-act-1993-nvra\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">exempt<\/a> from the NVRA, which Gray argued gives state lawmakers the &ldquo;opportunity&rdquo; to require proof of citizenship for individuals seeking to register and vote at &ldquo;every single [level].&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Wyoming has a chance to &ldquo;truly be the leader on these conservative issues,&rdquo; Gray said. <\/p>\n<p>In conjunction with such requirements, Gray is also seeking to pass legislation mandating individuals provide proof of residency when registering to vote in Wyoming. As The Federalist&rsquo;s Brianna Lyman <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/04\/15\/gop-governor-vetoes-rule-requiring-wyomingites-to-prove-residency-to-register-to-vote\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>, &ldquo;Wyoming&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/sos.wyo.gov\/Forms\/Publications\/ElectionCode.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">election code<\/a>&nbsp;says voters must be both state residents and U.S. citizens &hellip; [b]ut would-be voters are currently just required to provide proof of identity.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Gray previously put forward a series of rules instituting proof of residency requirements last year that were <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/04\/15\/gop-governor-vetoes-rule-requiring-wyomingites-to-prove-residency-to-register-to-vote\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">vetoed<\/a> by Wyoming Gov. <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/mark-gordon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mark Gordon<\/a>. In his <a href=\"https:\/\/wyofile.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/L-Chuck-Gray-re-ARP23-085-Secretary-of-State-Chapter-2-Identification-for-Voter-Registration-4.12.24.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">letter<\/a> to Gray, the Republican governor argued that the secretary lacked statutory authority to alter election procedures without authorization from the legislature. <\/p>\n<p>Referring to Gordon&rsquo;s veto as &ldquo;unfortunate,&rdquo; Gray expressed hope the governor will do &ldquo;the right thing&rdquo; if a bill containing proof of residency requirements passes this year.<\/p>\n<p>Gordon&rsquo;s office did not respond to The Federalist&rsquo;s request for comment on whether he would sign such a bill should it arrive at his desk.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of voter registration, Gray expressed interest in improving the state&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/suit-local-election-chief-refuses-to-clean-maricopas-voter-rolls\/\" title=\"Suit: Local Election Chief Refuses To Clean Maricopa&#039;s Voter Rolls\">voter list maintenance procedures<\/a> to ensure only eligible electors are on the voter rolls. This includes acquiring greater access to the Wyoming Department of Transportation&rsquo;s data to &ldquo;see when somebody requests a license in another state [to determine whether] there&rsquo;s evidence that they move to another jurisdiction&rdquo; and enhanced interaction with the federal government&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscis.gov\/save\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SAVE database<\/a> to verify individuals&rsquo; citizenship status. <\/p>\n<p>The secretary also described his desire to strengthen the state&rsquo;s voter ID requirement. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Voter_ID_in_Wyoming\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ballotpedia<\/a>, &ldquo;Generally, voters are required to present a photo ID, but there are two exceptions to that requirement&rdquo; &mdash; Medicare and Medicaid insurance cards &mdash; that are set to expire in 2029. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We really want to remove those from the allowable list because they don&rsquo;t have a photo on them,&rdquo; Gray said. &ldquo;One of the things you&rsquo;re trying to effectuate with voter ID is [to stop] voter impersonation [and ensure] the person at the polls requesting the ballot is the person on the voter registration list. When you don&rsquo;t have a photo, you can&rsquo;t do that.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Other items included in Gray&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/sos.wyo.gov\/Media\/2025\/SoS_Release_2025-01-06.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2025 agenda<\/a> are prohibitions on <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/ballot-harvesting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ballot harvesting<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/ballot-drop-boxes-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ballot<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/drop-boxes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">drop boxes<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/ranked-choice-voting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ranked-choice voting<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/foreign-funding\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">foreign funding<\/a> in elections and ballot initiative campaigns. Implementing a &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/voterhelpdesk.usvotefoundation.org\/en\/support\/solutions\/articles\/151000052027-what-are-the-various-states-residency-requirements-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">durational residency requirement<\/a> to vote in Wyoming&rdquo; and mandates for &ldquo;[p]aper ballots, hand audits, and counts of elections&rdquo; are also on the list.<\/p>\n<p>Wyoming&rsquo;s 2025 legislative session is slated to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.multistate.us\/resources\/2025-legislative-session-dates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">run from<\/a> Tuesday to March 6. <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wyoming&#8217;s GOP leadership hasn&#8217;t ensured secure elections<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2388699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Chuck-Gray.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[48255,6571,40566,35708,3630],"class_list":["post-2388698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-2025-agenda","tag-elections","tag-elections-chief","tag-political-leadership","tag-wyoming"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Chuck-Gray.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2388698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2388698"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2388698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2388702,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2388698\/revisions\/2388702"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2388699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2388698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2388698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2388698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}