If party-switching voters are "cheating to win," what do you call these shady tactics?
Protesters who railed against masks, LGBTQ books, and "critical race theory" have traded their signs for campaign slogans and are running for school board seats across Wyoming. (photo: The Sheridan Press)

Education takes a backseat to "hot button" social issues in Wyo. school board races

Instead of focusing on teacher retention, balanced budgets, student mental health, and other less dramatic—yet critical—school district subjects, candidates across the state this year come straight out of protest groups focused on banning books and outlawing mask mandates.
See how happy you'll feel after you cast your primary election ballot?

DERAILED: Everything you need to vote smart in the 2022 Wyoming primaries (Part 4)

Our “DERAILED” series explained why you should vote in the 2022 Wyoming primary elections. Now we tell you how. Find your new voting districts, polling place, and learn how to research your candidates to cast a smart ballot this August.
The Wyoming Gun Owners and WyoRINO both use strategies that target primary elections.

DERAILED: Special interest groups count on low turnout to influence Wyo. primaries (Part 3)

Many groups with narrow agendas target the primary elections in order to flip seats in the Wyoming Legislature, and they depend on low turnout to succeed. The more Wyomingites vote in the elections that count, the less influence special interest groups will have over our state.
If you wait til November to vote, you're missing the boat!

DERAILED: No matter what you learned in school, Wyoming Election Day is not in November (part 2)

Despite what we learn in school, Wyoming’s real Election Day is in August. All six races for statewide and Congressional seats in 2022 will be decided by then, along with all but a handful of Legislative and county-level contests. If you’re waiting until November to cast a ballot, you’re missing the chance to make your vote count.

DERAILED: The Wyo. Legislature’s 2022 trainwreck budget session (part 1)

The Wyoming Legislature's 2022 budget session was a prime example of how our state lawmakers ignore the real problems of Wyoming and instead focus on emotional "hot button" national issues. As home and healthcare prices go up, the struggling fossil fuel industries fail to pay for public schools, and Wyoming can't keep young people living here to build a future, the Legislature is transfixed on issues they repeat from national media. This is the kind of representation we get when only 30 percent of Wyoming residents vote in the elections that count: the primaries.
Illustration by Amanda Pittman

DERAILED: How Wyoming’s Legislature got off track, and how to steer it back (series intro)

The Wyoming Legislature has become more concerned with squabbling over hot-button national issues than addressing the real problems of our state. In a new series, Better Wyoming looks at how this happened, and what we need to do to get back on track.
Actual image of Wyoming lawmakers redrawing the state's election map

Save the politicians, screw the people: “Redistricting” showed the bald self interest that drives the Wyoming Legislature

Members of the public made clear their wishes for better representation during the Wyoming Legislature’s 2022 “redistricting” process. But in the end, the chaotic ordeal confirmed that most lawmakers’ number one priority is protecting their own political interests.
Voters showed up from across the state in person and on Zoom to testify against SF-97.

Outcry confronts bill to restrict Wyoming voting, prompting committee to kill it

More than a dozen Wyoming voters showed up to ask the Wyoming House Appropriations Committee on Monday to defeat Senate File 97, which would limit who can vote in primary elections. They argued the proposal would make voting more difficult and force residents to vote blind. After more than an hour of testimony against it, the committee agreed and thumbed the bill down.
Senators Bo Biteman and Charlie Scott led the effort to derail the adults' work.

Wyoming Senate scraps “redistricting” plan in a reckless power play

County clerks, legislators, local officials, and members of the public worked for months to reach consensus on a new statewide election district map. On Tuesday, the Wyoming Senate voted to throw that plan in the trash and start from scratch with just seven days remaining in the 2022 legislative session. The Senate’s move is a last-ditch attempt to give outsized influence to rural areas that have lost residents over the past decade, while under-representing more urban areas like Cheyenne that have experienced population growth.
If party-switching voters are "cheating to win," what do you call these shady tactics?

Senate advances election restriction bill through Agriculture Committee and after-hours vote

Wyoming Senate leaders pressured members to re-assign a bill that would restrict voting in primary elections to a more favorable committee. After clearing the Agriculture Committee with a 5 - 0 vote, Senators debated the bill late Wednesday night after almost everyone had left the Capitol. These tactics resemble past years’ efforts to ram through unpopular legislation backed by influential politicians.