Wyoming residents will soon need to provide proof of citizenship and residency when registering to vote following Gov. Mark Gordon’s decision Friday to allow a bill to become law without his signature.
Set to go into effect in July, the law makes Wyoming one of the few states to require proof of citizenship as part of its voter registration. Louisiana and New Hampshire passed similar laws in 2024, although Wyoming’s statute appears broader than New Hampshire’s.
Wyoming’s new law also requires residents, for the first time ever, to attest that they’ve lived in the state for at least 30 days before casting a ballot. That requirement clashes with both the Wyoming Constitution and federal law, Gordon wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Chuck Gray who pressed for the measure.
“I cannot sign it as such,” the governor wrote of the new law.
The legislation was one of 45 election-related bills filed by lawmakers in the 2025 general session. The new restrictions were a top priority for Gray and the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, both of which chalked up Gordon’s decision as a win.
“Proof of citizenship and proof of residency for registering to vote are both so important,” Gray said in a press release. “Only United States citizens, and only Wyomingites, should be voting in Wyoming elections. Period.”
The new law is “also key in supporting President Trump’s pivotal work to have proof of citizenship for registering to vote with the SAVE Act at the federal level,” Gray wrote.
In the days leading up to Gordon’s decision, Gray called on the governor to sign the bill via social media posts and an op-ed published in Cowboy State Daily.
American Action Fund — a Texas-based nonprofit with ties to Make Liberty Win, a Virginia-based political action committee — added to the public-pressure campaigns with text messages to Wyoming voters.
Last year, Gray sought to enact such requirements outside of the lawmaking process by adopting them via executive rulemaking. But Gordon rejected the rules on the basis that they exceeded the scope of the secretary’s legal authority. The governor referenced this in his Friday letter to Gray.
“Because it is laudable to continuously improve our standards for identification, I am thrilled that this legislation now gives the Secretary of State the authority he was trying to usurp by passing rules he had no authority to pass last spring,” Gordon wrote. “The will of the Legislature is finally clear on this point.”
Gray also had harsh words for the governor in a text to WyoFile calling the new law “the culmination of over 2 years of back and forth with an insider, very weak Governor.”
It will now be up to Gray to determine via the rulemaking process what documentation counts as proof of residency. As for proof of citizenship, the law specifies nine different options including a birth certificate, a valid United States passport and a Wyoming driver’s license.
Currently, the voter registration process only requires citizens to provide proof of identity and to attest that they reside in Wyoming and are U.S. citizens.
Requiring voters to reside in a county for 30 days before an election has drawn legal fights in other states. Critics have argued that a durational residency requirement disenfranchises voters who move to a state or a new county or precinct in fewer than 30 days before an election.
Gordon’s concerns and assurances
“If this Act simply dealt with clarifying the statutory authority for rulemaking requiring proof of residency and citizenship to vote (already constitutionally required), there would be no need for this explanation,” Gordon wrote of his letter. “Unfortunately, that is not the case.”
Under the Wyoming Constitution, voters must be 21 years old, a state resident for at least one year and a resident of the county in which they seek to cast a ballot for at least 60 days. But those requirements are not upheld, as Gordon pointed out, “by the recognition of the supremacy of United States law.”
The U.S. Constitution, Gordon noted, was amended in 1971 to establish 18 as the voting age requirement, which is how Wyoming elections are now run despite the state constitution stipulating 21.
As for a durational requirement, Gordon called 30 days “arbitrary” since it does not comport with the one year specified in the Wyoming Constitution.
“If the Legislature is already willing to test the bounds of legal propriety, they might as well respect original construction,” he wrote.
Gordon also pointed to federal statute that prohibits a U.S. citizen from being barred from voting in a presidential election because they do not meet a durational residency requirement established in state law. The governor’s letter notes that the competing legal language could lead to lawsuits.
“Whether the federal or state statute will prevail in a legal contest is a question that will have to be resolved in court,” the governor wrote.
Gordon also took the opportunity in his letter to reiterate his confidence in Wyoming’s elections.
“Our elections are precious, and those that have served as election judges and clerks over the years should be complimented for the diligence they have brought to this important task,” he wrote, “I have both won and lost elections in this state. I have never whined about the outcome or sought to reengineer the process. I believe the results even when they don’t go my way.”
The legislation was the last remaining bill from the 2025 general session that awaited a decision by the governor. He had until midnight Friday to take action.
Correction: This story was updated on April 1, 2025 to include details about other states requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote. —Ed.
As a veteran holding a DD-214 as proof of citizenship and being enrolled member of a tribe within Wyoming bou daries thus citizenship was granted June 3, 1924 to tribes. Now proof is required. Keep your day job, legislative work is beyond the author’s knowledge.
Actually Arizona has a law that requires proof of citizenship to register to vote, if they use the state form. We fought this back in the Obama era. However, if people use the federal registration form they do not have to provide proof of citizenship, but then can only vote in federal elections. I suspect Wyoming will run into the same issue. The federal laws need to be changed to require proof of citizenship in order to register to vote.
The Gov reminds me of that character in The Wizard of Oz.
Alas Wyoming and the lunatics and cowards it elects.
HB156 was a voter suppression bill, and to dignify it as anything else is to be indifferent to the eligible people who will be disenfranchised by unnecessary restrictions.
Please, spare us the “it’s just like” argument to downplay the suppression by equating voting to anything else. It is not like anything else and should be defended tirelessly by the people who make our policies and laws to be as accessible and fair as possible within a secure election system.
HB156 was supposed to help county clerks define a “bona fide” resident of the state, which is required by law to register to vote. Instead, it inserts requirements into statute that add nothing to the integrity of our elections while excluding people who lack a stable physical address.
And where did we get 30 days? Well, we are told some other states use that number. That’s it.
The other dubious achievement of HB156 is feeding the fear that the wrong people are voting in Wyoming elections. We still hear the apocryphal story that busloads of “outsiders” are invading our elections, and the mis-printing of a ballot in Weston County has been used as an excuse to distrust all ballot tabulators and county clerks.
Instead of exploiting these fears, our leaders should be reassuring the people of Wyoming with facts.
This bill should have been vetoed.
Chuck Gray is such a little sweetie. Pitching solutions to non-problems. What exactly is this [probably] illegal piece of legislation supposed to fix or address? The sliver of voter fraud in America has been almost exclusively rightwing loons trying to vote multiple times or illegally for team orange. The Deep State effort to import hordes of illegals to support Dems at the polls is really just some 4Chan addicted basement dwellers, untethered from reality, creating a narrative out of paranoid saturated thin air. If there is mass voter fraud, why can’t Chuck and his band of misfits prove any of it? Why hollow accusations and illegal legislation, instead of evidence presented in court and criminal indictments? Gray is a moral coward. The dull tool used by out-of-state interests looking to disenfranchise American voters. The alt-right can’t win on their “billionaire first” policies, so they employ gerrymandering, blocking voter access and disenfranchising people.
Perhaps a literacy test is the next barrier to voting which these folks might dream of, if only because a poll tax trips a different trigger.
Very disappointing this one didn’t get a veto after so many Wyomingites called and wrote the Governor expressing concern and public testimony during session provided ample reason to veto. Letting the courts settle things is not an effective way to govern and yet here we are at both the state and federal levels. Also sad to see the level of outside Wyoming big money influence when supposedly this bill was about protecting Wyomingites and our elections: “American Action Fund — a Texas-based nonprofit with ties to Make Liberty Win, a Virginia-based political action committee — added to the public-pressure campaigns with text messages to Wyoming voters.”
I think the Legislature ran the gauntlet as best they could. If seven houses in my neighborhood all caught fire and burned to the ground, I’d have a heightened awareness to check my smoke alarm batteries and available fire extinguishers, even though my house hadn’t burned. It’s OK Wyoming wants to be proactive in election integrity before our house catches fire. If the bill required a year’s State residency, it’d never fly as too many folks would be disqualified to vote.
Watching the utter election chaos in the seven swing States has a lot of us quite jumpy. Having tens of millions of illegal aliens now in our county doesn’t help either. Thank goodness very smart folks here years ago didn’t allow the motor voter law to take effect in Wyoming. We’re thus required to purge the registered voters who didn’t vote in the last election from our voter rolls making ours so much better than most States.
Given election integrity is such a prickly subject with so many land mines, all these efforts to review and improve what we have I think is great. Hat tip to all those willing to slog through this stuff!
“Watching the utter election chaos in the seven swing States has a lot of us quite jumpy”….
there was no “chaos”. you were lied to and you should know that by now.
As usual chuckles is in pursuit of issues that do not exist. Disenfranchising voters is illegal. This ridiculous piece of legislation serves no other purpose than harming voters.
It is time to file a law suit and get this struck down. Chuckles needs to be put in his place and voted out.
I have no issue with having a proof of citizenship to vote law, but this one was so poorly written I am surprised he didn’t veto it.
What is so bad about proof of citizenship to vote?
Do I live in China? When are we going to vote that California goofball out of office?
Gordon. Please explain why providing an ID to vote is bad idea. One has to provide ID if asked to even buy a beer. Also if a person has a GREEN CARD and is here legally. Does everyone understand that person can become a USA citizen after just 5 years! But many refuse to do so. Why not? They could than legally vote. With ID
We don’t need more unnecessary voting laws. There is virtually NO voter fraud in Wyoming. All of this B.S. comes from other states trying to control the Wyoming voter.
Gordon, you have zero proof there is no fraud.
You cannot prove it isnt happening.
ID laws take the step to ensure that those who cant vote, dont.
Your argument is a classical example of an, “argument from ignorance”. Your essentially saying that your claim is true because it hasn’t been proven false.
that’s double negative…….show proof there is fraud.
Once again, Gordon proves himself to be spineless in the face of Gray’s attack on a non-existent problem. This will only make it more difficult for legitimate Wyoming residents to vote – which is of course, Gray’s intent. Shame on both of them.
Or perhaps Gray’s intent is to get Trump’s support as Gray runs for Governor in
2026.
You’re spot on.
Personally, I’m betting that Hageman will announce her candidacy for Governor, as well as Chip Neiman, throw Gray in there and what do you have? Trouble with a capital T. Hageman will get Trumps endorsement, and with our large population of uninformed voters, you can clearly see where this is going.