Voter apathy among hunters and gun owners is a nationwide trend, but Wyoming bucks that, a political watchdog said.
“I think with you guys in Wyoming, it’s clear that you are passionate about your state,” Baker Leavitt of Florida told Cowboy State Daily on Friday. “Hunters in Wyoming have a tremendous sense of participation,”
He’s an adviser to Vote4America, a grassroots group focused on getting hunters, gun owners and other typically conservative demographics registered to vote.
Across the nation, roughly 10 million hunters and gun owners of voting age aren’t registered because many of them think the system is rigged, according to Vote4America.
But things are looking better in Wyoming, Leavitt said.
Vote4America’s research indicates that among Wyoming hunters of voting age, 38,508 didn’t participate in the last national election.
That compares to some other big hunting states with a lot more people, like 515,277 in Pennsylvania and 370,619 in Michigan, according to Vote4America.
“I think a lot of states could take a lesson from the people of Wyoming,” said Leavitt, adding that he has close friends in the Cowboy State and visits Wyoming frequently.
One of Wyoming’s more conservative legislators, Rep. Jeremy Haroldson, R-Wheatland, said he’s wasn’t surprised to hear that Wyoming hunters buck the nationwide trend of not registering to vote.
That’s likely because of the steady conservative trend in Wyoming politics, he said.
“Our hunters here, they’ve seen the last two elections go more in the direction of the conservative populace,” Haroldson told Cowboy State Daily.
The conservative Wyoming Freedom Caucus dominated the Aug. 20 Wyoming Republican primary election and could stand to gain 11 seats in the House.
Cynicism Sets In Among Hunters, Guns Owners
On the national level, however, many hunters and gun owners have become cynical and decide not to vote, Leavitt said.
“The polling we have done says they feel their vote doesn’t count. ‘They are going to steal the election/place who they want in office,’” he said. “They distrust the government and are simply disenfranchised.”
Part of Vote4America’s mission is to convince hunters and gun owners otherwise, Leavitt said.
“This election is going to be about turnout,” he said. “If you feel that your vote doesn’t count or they are gonna ‘rig it again,’ the only way to ensure your ballot doesn’t count is for you to not cast your ballot.
“It’s like sports: Never leave it in the ref’s hands. You gotta put points on the board. The way you put points on the board is to vote in this election.”
Harold shares those sentiments about the importance of voting.
“It’s not just a right, it’s your duty. It’s your duty to step into that voting booth,” he said. “Men and women died so that you can do that.”
And Wyoming isn’t immune to voter cynicism, he added.
“We’ve got people here who think their vote doesn’t matter. We need to do our part to make reassure people that when they vote, their vote is counted,” Haroldson said.
Crunching Numbers
Leavitt said gathering the data on the registration status of hunters and gun owners was time-consuming and expensive.
In states such as Wyoming, where firearms owners don’t register their guns, potential voters were categorized only as hunters.
Leavitt said the data was gathered by cross-referencing Wyoming Game and Fish information on hunting license purchases with voter registration rolls.
Despite the national trend toward political apathy, Haroldson said he expects political engagement in Wyoming to remain robust.
“The trend here in the last year and a half is toward people getting involved,” he said. “We are seeing people who have never been involved in politics starting to get involved.”
Leavitt agreed that from what he’s seen, Wyoming people like to step up.
“They are all very proud to be from Wyoming and they’re all pretty protective of their state,” he said. “They don’t just sit around on their asses and complain, they get involved.”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
