On January 25, two Wyoming bills to change the law on who can vote in partisan primaries were defeated in the Senate Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee. Currently, Wyoming voter registration forms ask the voter to choose a party (or independent status), and neither bill proposed to change that.
SF 96 would have provided that, on primary day, any voter is free to choose any party’s primary ballot, without having to switch his or her party registration. This bill lost 3-2 in the Committee. The two “yes” votes were from one Democrat and one Republican. The three “no” votes were from two Republicans and one Democrat. If this bill had passed, the change would not have been profound, because existing law lets any voter switch parties on primary election day. Wyoming also lets voters register for the first time on primary election day.
SF 13 would have provided that no voter may switch parties in the 60 days before a primary. That bill lost 5-0.
Then Wyoming has a setup similar to Iowa’s. On primary day, a registrant of Party A who wants to vote in Party B’s primary changes his registration at the polls and votes in the primary of his new party.
This means that 22 states have open primaries– Iowa, Wyoming, and 20 states without party registration. Also, Utah’s Democrats have open primaries.