Primary elections had low turnout, expected to increase in the general election

By Joseph Beaudet

The Sheridan Press

Via Wyoming News Exchange

SHERIDAN — The general election is just six weeks away, and more voters are expected to hit the polls in November than they did in August.

Voter turnout across Wyoming was much lower in this year’s primary election than in 2022, and this year was the state’s lowest turnout since 2016.

Sheridan County was no exception to the trend. In 2022, 11,619 voters in the county cast a ballot. This year, just 7,796 voters cast their ballot — a difference of nearly 4,000 — and the county’s lowest total since 2016.

Marissa Carpio, the policy director for Equality State Policy Center, said this year’s low voter turnout likely had several contributing factors.

“National politics and negative state mailers and campaigning likely contributed to feelings of apathy in voters,” Carpio said.

She added voters have said they were confused by the new party affiliation change, which aimed to prevent voters from changing the party they registered to vote with after candidates began filing to run for office. The law, signed by Gov. Mark Gordon in March 2023, prevents already-registered voters from changing their party affiliation within 15 days of a primary election. Eligible voters who are not registered at that time can register with a party until Election Day.

“(I)n talking to voters, many people didn’t know what party they were registered in, if they were registered, or if they could register after that date,” Carpio said in an email to The Sheridan Press.

Carpio also said it’s important for voters to turn out for all elections, and Wyoming’s primary election is most often representative of politically involved voters.

“Many voters were cut out of the primary if they didn’t register with a party at the right time, or did not want to adhere to a party at all,” Carpio said.

Voter turnout in the 2022 primary elections was “remarkably high,” Carpio said. 

She added the race for Wyoming’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives — between Liz Cheney and Harriet Hageman — drew widespread attention and likely contributed to an increased voter turnout.

This year in Sheridan County, there were 14,799 registered voters at the time of the primary election. Of them, 7,796 voters cast ballots. Republican voters in Sheridan County had the greatest turnout between the two major parties, with 57.39% of the 12,346 registered Republicans casting a ballot. Of the 1,410 registered Democrats in Sheridan County, 44.18% of them cast a ballot.

Sheridan County has more females registered to vote than males, and 50.98% of the 6,664 registered women cast a ballot; 49.5% of the 5,971 registered men cast a ballot.

Sheridan County Clerk and Recorder Eda Schunk Thompson previously told The Sheridan Press miscommunication led to election results not being posted to the county’s website as they came in throughout election night, which had been a hallmark for the county over the years.

It’s an easy fix to post results faster.

Schunk Thompson said the county’s elections staff will build report templates earlier and revamp election manuals to help the general election night move more efficiently.

“We’re going to build those reports ahead of time and have that shell built so that once the information comes in from the tabulators… we will be ready to share that information with (our information technology department) so it can get posted on the website,” Schunk Thompson said.

She also said the county is revamping its election manual and will have a more step-by-step guide to help election judges work through their night after polls close. 

She said there were some delays in getting election results back to the Sheridan County Courthouse, in part because there were so many new election judges.

While Schunk Thompson said she would expect higher voter turnout for the general election than the primaries, it should be a more streamlined night overall.

“Just by the nature of the election, we’ll have fewer ballot styles,” Schunk Thompson said.

As a general practice, Sheridan County prints enough ballots for 85% of the registered voters to cast a ballot. Schunk Thompson said, though, each polling location has a ballot-on-demand system to allow judges to print ballots in case more than 85% show up to vote, which happened in 2020.

As of Monday morning, Sheridan County has 14,952 registered voters — 85% would be 12,710 ballots — which is approximately 200 more than the number of registered voters at August’s primary election.

Historically, fewer voters turn out in election years without nominees for president on the ballot. In 2022, Wyoming saw its second-worst voter turnout since 1978.

“As a presidential year, however, we can expect that the general election turnout numbers will be better this year than last election cycle,” Carpio said in an email to The Sheridan Press.

Carpio added it’s important for voters to remember their ballots count as some races can be decided by a margin of less than 20 votes.

“It can be hard to cut through all of the noise in the election season, so voters should remember that early voting starts (Oct. 8) for the general election. They can also register and vote on the day of the election on (Nov. 5),” Carpio said.

This story was published on September 24, 2024.