Wyoming 2022 Primary Election cross-over voting
by Pinedale Online!
August 19, 2022
Cowboy State Daily posted a couple of interesting articles about cross-over voting during the 2022 Primary Election in Wyoming, so we wanted to take a look at if that occurred in Sublette County as well. Crossover voting occurs when a voter participates in a primary election for a political party with which he or she does not generally affiliate, for example if a registered Democrat votes for a Republican candidate. In Wyoming, voters can switch their party affiliation up to the day of the primary.
The race where this was seen as being particularly significant in Wyoming’s 2022 primary election was for U.S. Representative between Republican incumbent Liz Cheney and challenger Harriet Hageman. While campaigning in the primary, Cheney put out political campaign ads aimed at Independents and Democrats with instructions on how voters could change their party affiliation for the GOP primary on August 16. Liz Cheney ultimately lost to Harriet Hageman in the August 16th primary.
Teton County, which had a 38 higher percentage of registered Democrats to Republicans in the 2020 presidential election, had the number of registered Republicans in the county overtake registered Democrats before the 2022 primary, according to an article on Wyoming Public Radio in early August. Teton County is the only county in the state that voted overwhelmingly for Liz Cheney. We did not find data on the number of Teton County registered as Democrats who switched to Republican party for the primary election.
In Sublette County, the Sublette County Clerk’s Office provided data that approximately 112 people switched from Democrat to Republican party affiliation in the 2022 primary election. There were only 43 Democratic ballots cast in the election in Sublette County compared to 3,626 Republican ballots. There were a total of 5,253 registered voters in Sublette County as of August 16, 2022. The primary election had a 69% voter turnout in the county.
One story by Cowboy State Daily stated, "Tuesday primary election statistics appear to show huge numbers of Democrats "crossed over" to vote Republican in the primary. From January 1 to Aug. 16 – the date of the election – the Republican party gained 19,016 registered voters, while the Wyoming registry as a whole gained just 6,273. That’s an internal shift of 12,743 voters into the Republican party." The story went on to state, "The current split of 75% registered Republicans to 12.7% registered Democrats is the largest split between the two parties in recorded Wyoming history." A second story by Cowboy State Daily commented that Tuesday’s election had the highest turnout in Wyoming history for a primary.
Click on the links below for news stories regarding cross-over voting in the 2022 Primary Election in Wyoming.
Huge Crossover Presence In Wyoming Primary Election: 94% Of Ballots Republican By Clair McFarland, August 17, 2022
Crossover Voting Did Not Have Big Impact On Wyoming’s U.S. House Primary Race By Leo Wolfson, August 17, 2022
Liz Cheney is appealing to Wyoming Democrats. Will it make a difference? By Bill Walkey, Wyoming Public Radio, August 5, 2022
Wyoming Secretary of State 2022 Primary Election Summary (PDF)
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