Defending Wyoming Voters from Unnecessary Barriers to Their Freedom to Vote (Equality State Policy Center v. Wyoming Secretary of State)

Wyoming became the latest state to introduce and pass a law (HB 156) requiring individuals to jump through unnecessary and burdensome requirements to register to vote.  

Although these burdens will fall on all Wyoming voters going to the polls, they will not be distributed evenly. Instead, they will disproportionately impact those that struggle to meet the new requirements, including historically disenfranchised groups like student voters, low-income and elderly voters and voters with disabilities.    

When registering to vote, individuals already must swear that they are U.S. citizens, whether they were born here or moved here. These existing, strict laws ensure that only American citizens vote in federal elections, and lying about your citizenship can lead to serious consequences, including fines, jail time and deportation.  

There is no reason voters should have to jump through extra hoops and provide additional documentation to cast their ballot — these barriers do not make our elections any more secure, they just keep eligible Americans from voting.

Under HB 156, Wyoming citizens who could previously register to vote with a student ID, state or federal employment ID, military ID, or ID cards issued to military dependents can no longer rely on those documents to register to vote.  

Now, new registrants must provide additional documents from a new, restrictive list of qualifying documents that is different from the list already registered voters use.  

Coupled with the most aggressive voter purge program in the nation, which removes voters from the rolls if they fail to vote in a single general election (midterm or presidential), HB 156 will confuse and needlessly burden Wyoming voters.  

In May of 2025, a Wyoming-based nonprofit, Equality State Policy Center, sued Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray to stop and invalidate HB 156’s new voter registration requirements as unconstitutionally burdening the right to vote.

Campaign Legal Center filed a brief on behalf of League of Women Voters of Wyoming ("The League”) clarifying the appropriate judicial scrutiny that should be applied to the right to vote and demonstrating HB 156’s failure to justify or tailor the burdens it imposes.  

The League is a nonpartisan, grassroots, nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging informed and active participation in government, including through civic education, get out the vote efforts, voter registration promotion and advocacy for voters’ rights in Wyoming.  

The League seeks to build on Wyoming’s trailblazing legacy as the first state to grant women the unconditional right to vote by ensuring today that all voters — including those from traditionally underrepresented or underserved communities — have the opportunity and information they need to exercise their right to vote.