RESTRICTIVE WYOMING BALLOT ACCESS BILL KILLED
On February 28, Wyoming State Senator Tara Nethercott, the Majority Leader of the Senate, exercised her power to kill HB 173, the bill that would have severely injured ballot access for independent candidates. She did this by not allowing the bill to receive a vote on the Senate floor.
The bill would have increased the number of signatures from 2% of the last vote, to 3% for statewide office, and 5% for legislative and county offices. Also, it would have moved the petition deadline from late August to early June, and furthermore required independent candidates to file a declaration of candidacy in May. Already Wyoming had the most severe requirements of any state, in relation to presidential elections, on a percentage basis. No other state requires a presidential candidate running outside the major parties to submit a petition greater than 2% of the last vote, when the easiest method in each state is compared.
The bill would have given Wyoming the earliest deadline of any state for a presidential candidate running outside of the two major parties to declare his or her candidacy. Legislators in the House and on the Senate Committee ignored the U.S. Supreme Court decision Anderson v Celebrezze, even though that decision was brought to their attention.
The bill had passed the Wyoming House by a vote of 49-11. Then it had passed the Senate Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee by a vote of 4-1.
Chuck Gray, the Secretary of State, strongly supported the bill. No Wyoming news media expressed any opinion about the bill, and gave it very little publicity.