Wyoming IDs may get a complete redesign in the near future that would include a special designation identifying people who aren’t U.S. citizens on the state-issued cards.
This upcoming session, the Wyoming Legislature will consider a bill adding a line to ID cards reading, “Not a United States citizen,” as well as colors indicating the citizenship status of a cardholder.
Non-U.S. citizen status is already noted on Wyoming ID cards with “NR” listed on the licenses. People who aren’t American citizens cannot vote in Wyoming elections. People are also prohibited from holding two different state IDs at the same time.
The added emphasis delineating between citizens and noncitizens comes as President-elect Donald Trump has indicated removing immigrants illegally in the United States will be one of his top priorities. Over the past decade, states and local communities have been split over whether local law enforcement agencies should help the federal government enforce immigration laws. Some cities such as Denver were labeled “sanctuary cities” for being more open to housing undocumented migrants and refugees, which became a significant presidential campaign issue.
Protecting the integrity of elections through stronger voter identification methods has also been a major topic of political debate over the last four years.
Gray Wants It
Secretary of State Chuck Gray spoke in support of the Wyoming proposal at last Friday’s Joint Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Committee meeting. He said the new IDs will help ensure voter security and assist Wyoming’s county clerks in identifying non-residents who may be trying to vote.
“While we do have safeguards in place to ensure that only United States citizens are registering to vote, which is called a HAVA-check, there are a number of areas where there are weaknesses that can be exposed,” Gray said. “That’s why we need to continue to shore up this frontend monitoring, which I think this bill draft does.”
Gray’s primary concern is preventing noncitizens from registering to vote. There have been no proven instances of someone voting with a nonresident license in Wyoming.
The Migration Policy Institute also reports that there is no evidence that unauthorized immigrants, green-card holders, or immigrants on temporary visas are voting in significant numbers, and audits by election officials and numerous studies have shown that voting by noncitizens is extremely rare.
A Campbell County man did use a fraudulent birth certificate to get a Wyoming’s driver’s license as well as register to vote in Wyoming in 2020, and attempted to use the fake birth certificate to get a passport. None of these efforts would be thwarted by the proposed bill.
To receive a license under the bill, a non-U.S. citizen applicant would have to at least have a pending application for asylum, temporary protected status, deferred action status, a pending application for lawful permanent residence conditional permanent resident status in the United States.
Waste Of Money?
State Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, co-chair of the committee, believes the IDs would be a waste of taxpayer money when considering that all of Wyoming’s IDs are already scheduled to get a new redesign in about 1-2 years through a Wyoming Department of Transportation modernization project. This will include the launch of mobile ID, which could be used to show real-time status rather than relying on a stationary card.
“It’s a redundant law and we’re going to have to spend money on something we’ve already corrected on licenses,” Brown said.
Brown said he has heard rough projections that the IDs created in the bill would cost $50,000 to $80,000 to design.
The County Clerks’ Association of Wyoming supports the bill. Mary Lankford, former Sublette County clerk and a representative of the County Clerks, however said it’s very rare that noncitizens attempt to vote in Wyoming.
What’s Next?
The committee voted 10-4 to sponsor the draft bill, with opposition coming from Brown, Reps. Kevin O’Hearn, R-Mills, Jerry Obermueller, R-Casper and Sen. Evie Brennan, R-Cheyenne. Sens. Brian Boner, R-Douglas, Dan Furphy, R-Laramie, John Kolb, R-Rock Springs, Stephan Pappas, R-Cheyenne and Reps. Ken Pendergraft, R-Sheridan, Ryan Berger, R-Evanston, Tony Niemec, R-Green River, Scott Smith, R-Lingle, Clarence Styvar, R-Cheyenne, and Cody Wylie, R-Rock Springs, voted in favor of it.
Although he doesn’t support the bill, Brown expects the bill to “absolutely” pass this session.
As a result of this year’s elections, the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, which is aligned with Gray politically, took over a majority in the House.
“If the Freedom Caucus were to just wait with the process and tie it into the new redesign, it would make more sense,” Brown said. “It’s red meat for political fodder.”
Brown also expressed frustration that the bill was not on the Transportation Committee’s list of interim topics yet was brought up at a previous meeting and then passed on Friday.
The drafting of this bill was initiated by Pendergraft earlier this year. Brown believes it’s “likely” he was encouraged to do so by Gray in order to give the bill a better chance of passing, rather than bringing it before the Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee. Pendergraft did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether this was the case.
The bill would go into effect in 2026, shortly before early voting opens for the elections that year.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
