Wyoming
Massive Early Voting Turnout Surge Shatters Records Across Wyoming
More than three weeks still remain before the Nov. 5 general election, but records are already being shattered for early voting turnout around Wyoming.
Laramie County announced that turnout on Day On of early voting in Laramie County on Tuesday set a record, as 754 ballots were cast. According to Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee, the previous first-day record, set in 2020, was 313.
By Friday afternoon, the early voting line at the Laramie County Clerk’s Office was out the door. Lee told Cowboy State Daily that 2,672 ballots had been cast for the first week so far, also a record.
“This is good. There’s a lot of interest in this election for sure,” she said.
None of these totals include absentee ballots and only represent in-person early voting.
In Laramie County, 438 absentee ballots and 48 ballots sent to residents stationed overseas were returned as of Friday afternoon, slightly higher numbers from what was seen in 2020. That’s significant, considering a whopping 13,025 absentee ballots were sent out for the 2020 election, mostly as result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Platte County Clerk Malcolm Ervin said similar records were likely broken in his county for the first week of early voting.
As of Friday, Platte had 552 early ballots recorded. This compares to the roughly 2,000 ballots that were cast in his county through the entire 45-day early voting period in 2020.
Ervin said his staff anticipated a heavy early voting turnout this year because of changes in law that just went into effect, reducing the early voting period from 45 to 28 days for most voters.
Fremont County Clerk Julie Freese said she wasn’t sure if any records had been broken in her county, but early voting participation has been “steady” in her central Wyoming county, with 301 casting an early ballot so far.
Republicans and former President Donald Trump have made a concerted effort to promote early voting in this year’s election, even though Trump himself has also criticized it. Democrats have historically had success in encouraging early voting, which has helped them bank votes ahead of Election Day.
Earlier this week, U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman put out a video on social media reminding the voters that the polls are open and that “we need to take our country back.”
‘Get ’R Done’
State Rep. Clarence Styvar, R-Cheyenne, was one of the early voters Friday afternoon waiting to cast an early vote. When asked why he chose to vote early rather than vote on Election Day, Styvar responded to, “get ’r done.”
The overwhelming sentiment among people Cowboy State Daily spoke with was similar to Styvar, expressing a desire to get voting out of the way and done when they had free time to do it.
Michelle Blake said avoiding long lines on Election Day was a factor in her consideration to vote early.
“I don’t want to have to wait in the line too long,” she said.
One of these people was Cody Fife, who was voting in his first Wyoming election after moving to the Cowboy State from Alaska.
Fife said he hadn’t even planned to vote when he left the house that day, but realized the convenience of casting his vote early when stopping by the courthouse to register his vehicle in Wyoming.
When asked if he was knowledgeable about the candidates running, Fife responded that he’s “just as much as anyone else.”
Presidential elections tend to draw much larger turnout than non-presidential elections. The high-stakes race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris will likely be no different, with people from both parties seeing the result in fatalistic terms for the country.
Larger Trends
When it comes to absentee voting, which involves the county mailing a ballot out to voters who make a request for one and then those voters returning the ballot in-person or by mail, Murray said she doesn’t trust the process.
“I’d rather do in-person voting because of how the election went four years ago,” she said.
Andrea Aguiar feels differently, confidently voting by absentee ballot in the past. On Friday, she was casting her vote in person with her daughter in tow.
“Just to beat the crowd and make sure it’s done with,” Aguiar explained of why she came early. “Also, in case I get sick on Election Day.”
Aguiar and others expressed surprise by how many people were voting early.
All three clerks believe there has been slowly growing popularity for early voting over the last few election cycles. Although there was a major spike in 2020, Ervin pointed out that his county’s early voting numbers are on pace to beat what it saw in 2016.
“Some people are realizing that if life happens, something might happen on Election Day that makes them not able to vote,” Freese said. “Others don’t want to have to wait in the lines.”
Lee also believes the public has become more confident in early and absentee voting than in the past.
“Trust has increased,” she said. “As people become more familiar with it they realize it is a convenience for them. They’re assured their vote is cast and counted. It makes them confident.”
Freese doesn’t think confidence in these mechanisms of voting has increased and pointed out that there is still a solid cohort of voters who adamantly only vote on Election Day.
“We like giving a lot of options to make sure people feel confident in their vote,” she said.
Although none of these three county clerks promote voting early instead of voting on Election Day, Ervin and Lee admitted that the more people that do, the easier it makes work for their election staff on Nov. 5.
“It takes the burden off the vote centers,” Lee said.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
CASPER, Wyo. — High school athletics in Wyoming could see some drastic changes in the coming years following legislative changes to the state’s education budget, the Wyoming High School Activities Association recently announced in a statement.
According to the WHSAA, Wyoming school districts are facing a projected $3.9 million shortfall in activities funding, forcing officials to consider significant cuts to high school sports and extracurricular programs.
The WHSAA shared details regarding a new “silo” funding model implemented by the Legislature, stating that the recalibrated block grant model reduced funding for student activities and extra-duty responsibilities from $46.3 million to $42.4 million, an approximately 8.4% decrease statewide.
WHSAA Commissioner Trevor Wilson said the restructuring also restricts district access to an additional $76.2 million in previously flexible funding.
“A significant portion of the [April 28 WHSAA Board of Directors] meeting was dedicated to discussing the projected funding shortfall,” Wilson wrote.
The WHSAA is weighing several strategies to address rising costs with fewer resources. Proposed changes include eliminating regional tournaments and reducing the number of teams qualifying for state events from eight to four; limiting wrestling to two classes and restricting track and field state participants to the top 16 marks; making cuts to soccer, indoor track and field, Nordic and Alpine skiing, swimming and diving, spring golf and tennis; and reducing in-person speech and debate events by half and centrally locating All-State Music events to minimize travel. The board also recommended increasing gate admission or implementing student participation fees to offset costs.
While the WHSAA release states that no plans have been finalized and the various changes are currently just possibilities, Natrona County School District 1 Board of Trustees member Mary Schmidt criticized the WHSAA’s handling of the news at Monday’s board meeting.
“I take some issues with this, [including] the sheer fact that we as Board of Trustees members have not talked about that at all,” Schmidt said. “It is not our intent and it has not been brought to us to cut our athletics or activities budget for the upcoming school year. … I take issue with them picking sports and getting the community upset and ginning them up to be upset that this is all going to be cut when that hasn’t been discussed.”
Later in the meeting, Superintendent Angela Hensley clarified that Natrona County School District 1’s athletics and activities budget saw a reduction of roughly $550,000 in the coming year’s budget, but said the local school district does not plan to cut any sports.
“Thank you, Trustee Schmidt, for saying this, because I think people are wondering — we are not planning to cut athletics and activities for next year,” Hensley said. “We do have to take a look at our entire budget as we have talked about, as we learn more about these new rules that come in.”
Related
Republished with permission from Wyoming News Now, a TV news outlet covering the Cheyenne and Casper areas.
Cheyenne City Council has introduced a temporary moratorium, or pause, on new data center construction.
“The end goal is to actually have regulations in place, to have really heavy public involvement with this with data centers,” said Councilman Mark Moody.
The proposed ordinance is not a permanent ban on data centers and would not affect data centers currently under construction.
Councilman Moody says this is a bipartisan issue.
“I just want to make this clear, I’m not against data centers. We do need them from a national security perspective,” he said.
He said there needs to be more public input and regulations regarding data centers in Cheyenne.
The ordinance would require city staff to study data center impacts such as electricity usage, electricity tariffs, closed-loop cooling systems, groundwater impacts, agricultural impacts, and land value.
Cheyenne LEADS, the economic development corporation for Cheyenne and Laramie County, reported in November 2025 that there are 12 operational data centers in Wyoming, five under construction and plans for 43 data centers announced across the state.
“There needs to be more public input with this, and also to see how many we can sustain here in this community, cause there are talks of 43, and then another day 70. How many can we sustain here?” said Councilman Moody.
The proposed moratorium will now go to the Public Services Committee on Monday, May 18 at noon in the Municipal Building.
Sheridan will play in the North Regional Tournament at Gillette, while the South Regional Tournament will be played at Rock Springs.
North Regional Tournament at Gillette:
Checking record vs. highest team in the quadrant not involved in the tie, Thunder Basin gets the #1 Northeast seed over Campbell County, because the Lady Bolts went 3-1 vs. Sheridan, whereas the Lady Camels went 2-2.
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 NE) Thunder Basin vs. (#4 NW) Jackson – 11am
(#2 NW) Natrona County vs. (#3 NE) Sheridan – 11am
(#2 NE) Campbell County vs. (#3 NW) Kelly Walsh – 1pm
(#1 NW) Cody vs. (#4 NE) Worland – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Thunder Basin/Jackson winner vs. Natrona County/Sheridan winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh winner vs. Cody/Worland winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Thunder Basin/Jackson loser vs. Natrona County/Sheridan loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh loser vs. Cody/Worland loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
South Regional Tournament at Rock Springs:
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 SW) Laramie vs. (#4 SE) Torrington – 11am
(#2 SE) Cheyenne East vs. (#3 SW) Green River – 11am
(#2 SW) Rock Springs vs. (#3 SE) Wheatland – 1pm
(#1 SE) Cheyenne Central vs. (#4 SW) Cheyenne South – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Laramie/Torrington winner vs. Cheyenne East/Green River winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Rock Springs/Wheatland winner vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Laramie/Torrington loser vs. Cheyenne East/Green River loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Rock Springs/Wheatland loser vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
-
New York38 minutes agoQuestions Arise About Jack Schlossberg’s Readiness for Congress
-
Los Angeles, Ca44 minutes agoLos Angeles releases searchable list of worst rental properties
-
Detroit, MI1 hour agoMLB News & Moments: Mets Gain Much-Needed Momentum by Sweeping Detroit
-
San Francisco, CA1 hour agoWhere to Find Free Street Parking for Shows in San Francisco | KQED
-
Dallas, TX1 hour agoDallas Stars Forward Would Be Perfect Trade Target for NY Rangers
-
Boston, MA2 hours agoJetBlue to pull out of N.H.’s largest airport amid capacity crisis, officials announce – The Boston Globe
-
Denver, CO2 hours agoDenver area events for May 15
-
Seattle, WA2 hours agoFriday Roundtable: Free Summer Shuttles