Wyoming
Elections committee forwards 7 more election revamp bills to session
Legislative attempts to bolster the integrity of Wyoming elections, which some officials statewide insist are already trustworthy, aren’t disappearing anytime soon.
That’s after Wyoming lawmakers on the interim Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee forwarded seven bills that would revamp the way the state runs and operates its election processes. Wyoming voted for Pres. Trump more than any other state in 2024.
The seven bills could make recounts more common, restrict ballot harvesting, require more signatures for independent candidates to get onto general election ballots, allow for more hand count audits, and ban the use of student and non-photo IDs when voting.
The seven draft bills include:
Sen. Bill Landen (R-Casper) said one of his constituents told him the ID bill could make it harder for his 87-year-old mom to vote.
“I circle back and go, ‘Well, what exactly are we doing here?’” said Landen.
Supporters of the legislation, like Wyoming Freedom Caucus member Rep. Steve Johnson (R-Cheyenne), repeated the contention that the bills are about bolstering election integrity in a state where some feel its elections could be manipulated and that policy should be reshaped based on that possibility.
The latest suite of bills to reconfigure state elections come as doubts about election integrity have increased following false claims that the 2020 general election was stolen from Pres. Donald Trump.
Johnson quoted from the Wyoming Constitution during discussion of the independent candidates bill.
“Article Six, Section Thirteen: ‘Purity of elections to be provided for,’” he read, continuing, “that’s the major cause [of why] we’re here. We want our elections to be free and fair and honest. And there’s a lot of people that don’t think that necessarily all the elections are free and fair.”
Critics said repeated discussions of the need for election integrity are themselves undermining confidence in elections.
“The comments about the decrease in confidence reminds me of the man who murdered his parents and then threw himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan,” said Gail Symons, who operates the Wyoming civics website Civics307 and ran unsuccessfully for a state House seat in Sheridan in the last primary. “We’re losing confidence because we are always talking about how people don’t have confidence.”
The bill that would expand the use of hand counting for certain recounts caught her attention in particular, she added.
“There’s unambiguous evidence,” she said. “They are less accurate, less reliable, more time consuming, dramatically more expensive and logistically unsustainable. All of these bills are based … on assumption, supposition, speculation, conjecture, fallacy, unsubstantiated theories, baseless claims and debunked conspiracy theories.”
Officials like Secretary of State Chuck Gray have said similar election bills are about preventing voter fraud and restoring election integrity.
But a Wyoming Public Radio investigation published in October shows only 7.5% of all formal election complaints sent to Gray’s office since he took office in January 2023 to late July 2025 alleged such fraud.
The committee voted to sponsor all seven election bills in the upcoming budget session beginning on Feb. 9. They join another three election bills previously backed by the committee.
Redistricting update
After finishing consideration of the election bills, the committee turned its attention to a report from its Reapportionment Subcommittee on alternative redistricting methods for the state Legislature.
That panel was created after a bill passed in the last general session directing lawmakers to study differences in how the state and federal constitutions carve up legislative districts across the Equality State.
The issue at hand has to do with the fact that the Wyoming Constitution says counties should have at least one representative and one senator, and that districts should follow county lines.
But a federal district court case in 1991 concluded Wyoming’s districts violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution that requires equal voting weight for citizens, otherwise known as “one person, one vote.”
That case led to Wyoming’s current multi-county districts for House and Senate seats.
In the end, despite constituent suggestions in Weston County for how to get around the discrepancy, the subcommittee’s report says, “the Subcommittee does not see a path to compile [comply] with both constitutions on this issue. A reapportionment plan that has districts with greater than ten percent population deviation is extremely unlikely to survive a constitution[al] challenge under current federal court precedent.”
That said, the report ends with an entreaty to the Management Council for further study of solutions to the problem in 2026.
“It is possible that there may be actions of Congress which could help to address this issue and possibly other solutions which have not yet been presented,” the report says. “The Subcommittee requests that the Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee submit this as an interim topic to the Management Council for the 2026 interim and that Management Council approves further study on this reapportionment topic.”
All bills besides the biennium budget and a possible redistricting bill will need a two-thirds majority vote for introduction in their chamber of origin just to see the light of day in February.
This reporting was made possible by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, supporting state government coverage in the state. Wyoming Public Media and Jackson Hole Community Radio are partnering to cover state issues both on air and online.
If there is one lesson to be taken away from a Wyoming family’s magnificent mule deer hunting season, it’s that putting in the work scouting an area ahead of time can pay off big time.
Ryan and Jannette Hansen — along with their sons Tanner, 17, Brock, 15 and Parker, 13 — all shot huge bucks in the same southwest Wyoming deer hunt area.
The family lives in Mountain Home in Uinta County, and spending time outdoors has been a way of life for them. Ryan and Jannette both grew up hunting.
The couple also has two adult sons that have left home and were also raised as avid hunters.
But even amid such a legacy, the Hansens’ 2025 deer hunting season was exceptional.
Ryan told Cowboy State Daily that it partly came down to luck, and sheer tenacity while hunting.
However, he credits the family putting in the work ahead of time. Once they drew tags for the hunt area, they spent months scouting it.
They put in countless hours getting to know the terrain, hiking all over the place, observing deer’s movements, and picking out which bucks they wanted to go after once the hunting season started.
“It wasn’t just a case of, ‘Hey, let’s go drive down the road and see if we can shoot a deer,’” he said.
“We really put in the work ahead of time. We put in the effort, and we were rewarded and blessed for our efforts,” Ryan added.
One Heck Of A First Deer
Their hunt area “has it all” in terms of terrain and deer habitat, Ryan said.
Vast sage flats, rugged canyons, thick timber, mountain slopes; it’s all there, and the deer thrive in it, he said.
The family started hunting there during the September archery season but didn’t get any deer.
Mule deer are notoriously difficult to hunt with a bow, Ryan said.
“We had a lot of failed stalks, and a couple of missed shots,” he said.
“Anybody that kills a mule deer with a bow is definitely a stud in my book. In all of our books,” he added.
The rifle hunting season ran from Oct. 15 to Oct. 31, and the Hansens took full advantage of it.
Parker got the first buck, on opening day of rifle season.
He made a great shot at 463 yards, and it was his first deer ever.
When asked by Cowboy State Daily how he plans to follow up getting a big buck as his first deer, Parker gave a simple answer.
“Get a bigger deer,” he said.
Parker’s buck was at the bottom of a steep canyon.
“That was definitely a hard pack out. It was literally straight up and out of that canyon,” gaining about 700 feet in elevation, Ryan said.
One Buck After Another
Jannette shot her buck the next day, at 250 yards. Packing that deer out was easier than Parker’s buck had been but still challenging, Ryan said.
“I’m glad I had Tanner, he’s my pack horse,” he said.
Tanner told Cowboy State Daily that packing out big game animals comes naturally to him.
“It’s something I love to do, I’m a hiker,” he said.
The day that Brock dropped his buck didn’t start out so well.
“He woke up sick, throwing up,” Ryan said.
Brock still insisted on going hunting. As the morning progressed, he started feeling a little better.
“When we stopped for lunch, he got worse again,” Ryan said.
Jannette considered taking him home. But on the drive out they spotted a nice buck, which disappeared into some timber.
They decided to go after it. Ryan practically had to carry Brock because his son was so weakened by sickness.
But Brock was still excited to get the opportunity. They found the buck again and everything came together when Brock made a 160-yard shot.
He told Cowboy State Daily that the adrenaline rush of getting a chance at such a quality buck helped him forget his illness for a short while.
“It was because he was so big,” Brock said.
The family returned home, and Tanner and Ryan went back out by themselves.
They hunted all day with no luck. As evening settled in, they were high on a ridge when Tanner finally spotted a buck he wanted to go after, far below.
“He bombed off the top of that ridge and went right after him (the buck),” Ryan said.
Ryan went back to the truck and drove to where he knew Tanner would probably come out after pursuing the deer.
“It was about 10 miles of driving to get back to where he was,” Ryan said.
Tanner tracked the buck, and when it jumped from cover, he made a 250-yard shot.
Father and son packed the deer out in the dark, with headlamps to light their way.
A Bittersweet Ending
Only Ryan’s deer tag was left unfilled. The rest of the family returned for the weekend and they hunted together, but to no avail.
With the season coming to an end and his family back home, Ryan headed out for the last couple of days with a good family friend.
They moved to a different section of the hunt unit, and when Ryan’s opportunity finally came, he dropped his buck with a 150-yard shot.
The deer hunting season that is sure to become a family legend was finally over.
“I was relieved that we were done. But kind of sad at the same time. It was a culmination of everything we had done,” Ryan said.
A Freezer Full Of Venison
Jannette told Cowboy State Daily that she’s immensely proud of her family’s hunting accomplishment, and she doesn’t take living in Wyoming for granted.
“My nieces and nephews live in the city, and they don’t even go outside,” she said.
“Living in Wyoming is such a huge blessing in and of itself, for sure. It was a blessing for us to go out as a family and get all five deer,” she added.
The boys decided to get European mounts of their bucks. That being, a simple trophy mount, with just the animal’s cleaned skull and antlers.
Ryan and Jannette plan to have a taxidermist do full shoulder mounts of their bucks, together on a double pedestal.
“It will be a ‘his and hers’ double buck taxidermy mount,” Ryan said.
For the family, the hunt isn’t just about the trophies and bragging rights. Hunting is still about being solidly connected to the time-honored tradition of providing themselves with fresh venison.
“Those deer don’t go to waste. We eat every bit of them,” Ryan said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — The College of Southern Idaho men’s basketball team defeated the Western Wyoming Mustangs 81-62 in the opening round of the Battle for the Boot tournament Thursday night.
The Golden Eagles, who entered the game with a 2-0 record, controlled the game with balanced scoring and strong defensive play.
Jalen Lyn led the way scoring-wise as he poured in 26 and Nate Ahner was right behind him with a 20-point night of his own.
Defensively Kobe Kesler and Nate Anher each forced four turnovers, three blocks and a steal for Kesler and vice versa for Ahner.
CSI established an early rhythm in the first half with crisp ball movement thanks in large part to Ace Reiser who led the team with seven assists, many coming late in the first half.
The Golden Eagles led by 10 at half and pulled away even more in the second to secure the 19-point victory and improve to 3-0 on the season.
The Golden Eagles will face Clarendon College Friday night at 7:00 in their tournament semifinal matchup.
Copyright 2025 KMVT. All rights reserved.
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