Why don’t Wyomingites vote? Sheridan resident tries to find answer
Why don’t Wyomingites vote? Sheridan resident tries to find answer
By Stephen Dow
The Sheridan Press
Via Wyoming News Exchange
SHERIDAN — The lives of every Wyoming citizen are impacted daily by the decisions made by local elected officials, Sheridan resident Gail Symons said.
The decisions made at the city, county and state levels impact property taxes, the quality of local roads and what curriculum children are being taught in school. And Wyoming residents aren’t powerless in determining the direction of these government decisions, Symons said. By casting a vote every two years, every person can raise their voice about what is important to them.
“I always say that voting is the one true equality in the United States,” Symons said. “It doesn’t matter whether you are rich or poor or educated or uneducated. You have exactly the same number of votes as any other person. You have one vote, and so does the richest person you know. When you don’t show up to your polling place or vote absentee, you are giving up the one true equality you have.”
But not everybody in Wyoming exercises this fundamental right, according to statistics from the Wyoming Secretary of State’s office. In the 2020 general election, only 62.6% of the state’s voting population — or 278,503 people — cast a ballot. Even fewer people showed up for the primary election in August of that year, when 140,042 people — or roughly 31.5% of the population — cast a ballot.
Last election’s voter turnout proved stronger than past years, recording the highest general election voter turnout since 2008. The state’s average general election turnout since 1978 sits at 54.8%.
Wyoming's voter turnout lies among the lowest in the nation, Symons said. Wyoming was ranked 37th for voter turnout during the 2020 general election, she said, and was below the nationwide average of 66.7%.
Why is Wyoming voter participation so low?
“That’s the $100,000 question,” Symons said. And it’s one her new organization, WY Vote, aims to answer.
WY Vote, which is currently going through the process of becoming a registered nonprofit organization, was formed with the goal of making sure “every eligible Wyoming resident is an informed voter in all elections,” Symons said.
The first step to reaching that goal is figuring out why thousands of voting-age citizens don’t show up to the polls.
To that end, Symons has launched a website with a five-minute survey to find out why residents aren’t registered; why they aren’t voting in the primary and general elections; what would have to change for them to participate in the elections; and what resources they need to be a more informed voter.
“The whole purpose of the online survey is to answer the question of, ‘Why not?’” Symons said. “Why aren’t people voting? Of course, in order to answer that question, we need people to go and fill out the survey.”
Symons said she is promoting the survey, which will run through the end of March, by reaching out to nonprofit, business and educational organizations and asking for help in spreading the word.
“Between nonprofits, business and the educational world, hopefully people are learning about the survey and taking a few minutes to fill it out,” she said.
The survey is just the first step in WY Vote’s multi-phase plan to increase voter engagement throughout the state, Symons said. By this summer, the website will be updated with general information on how to register to vote, along with information on each elected position and what they do.
“As a general rule, people don’t know what the different elected positions are responsible for,” Symons said. “I’ve seen people go before the city council and ask for something that can only be decided by the Legislature. If you ask someone on the street what their county clerk does, they might remember that’s where they get their driver’s license renewed, but there is so much more to it than that, and that’s what we’ll try to explain on the site.”
In addition, the site will contain links to information on every candidate in the upcoming primary election once filing has been completed in May, Symons said.
WY Vote’s efforts will go beyond the internet and onto the streets too, Symons said. She plans to recruit volunteers to conduct in-person outreach to unregistered individuals and registered voters who haven’t been to the polls in a while.
Symons acknowledged there is work to be done, but she hopes to soon find some answers and increase voter participation because she said, “our democracy depends on it.”
“A healthy and robust republic depends on elections with participation and competition,” Symons said. “Those two things drive the quality of our republic. When they’re missing, the republic suffers.”
You can participate in the WY Vote survey at wyvote.vote.
This story was published on Feb. 22, 2022