If you aren’t a U.S. citizen but legally residing in the country, that’s already marked on your state-issued Wyoming ID. But some like Secretary of State Chuck Gray think non-citizen status needs to be more clearly marked on these IDs to prevent election fraud.
On Thursday, the Senate Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Committee unanimously passed legislation that would further this goal.
Senate File 33, which has been sponsored by the committee, would add a line to ID cards reading, “Not U.S,” as well as green coloring in the banner, Bucking Horse logo and disclaimer indicating the citizenship status of a cardholder.
The change is estimated to cost around $250,000 and would roughly impact an estimated 10,000 ID cards, said Misty Zimmerman, program manager for driver services with the Wyoming Department of Transportation. The ID cards would only be given out in the form of new cards and renewals.
“I think that’s a pretty minimal cost to ensure election integrity,” said state Sen. Ed Cooper, R-Ten Sleep.
The Need
Gray said the revamped ID cards would provide clarity in Wyoming elections about non-citizens not being allowed to vote and add an additional security level.
When asked if legal immigrants voting in Wyoming has been an issue, Gray said a few unofficial reports have been made and did not clarify whether it was illegal or legal immigrants voting.
Sen. John Kolb, R-Rock Springs, also said there was an incident prosecuted in his county.
Non-U.S. citizen status for people legally living in the U.S. is already noted on Wyoming ID cards with an “NR.” 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 expiration date on the ID card for a "conditional resident," or other types of temporary resident statuses, must match the expiration date on the person's immigration document.
A person’s citizenship status is also checked when registering before an election, but not for those registering on the day of an election in most Wyoming counties.
All of Wyoming’s IDs are already scheduled to get a new redesign in about one or two years through a Wyoming Department of Transportation modernization project, a cost that would be separate from what’s taking care of in SF 33. That will include the launch of mobile ID, which could be used to show real-time status rather than relying on a stationary card.
Although non-U.S. citizenship status is already on ID cards, Gray said it’s important to think about the duties of an election judge on Election Day.
“They’ve got thousands of things going on,” he said.
Colors And Words
Rep. Ken Pendergraft, R-Sheridan, also suggested the idea of using a different color font to help the disclaimer stand out.
Zimmerman said this isn’t possible because of printing requirements.
Committee Chairman Sen. Stephan Pappas, R-Cheyenne, expressed concern that the new disclaimer could take up too much space on licenses and speculated that a shorter identifier could be used.
Zimmerman explained that there are spacing limits on these cards due to other security features and said the full “Not a United States citizen” phrase as originally drafted in the bill would be difficult to fit in.
Gray said “Not a U.S. citizen” would be the bare minimum he would accept. He also prefers the disclaimer to be written in red.
“I think that will stand out,” he said.
Sen. Jim Anderson, R-Casper proposed it be changed to “Not U.S,” which was unanimously passed by the committee.
The committee also decided that the IDs would be colored with a green theme to indicate this different status.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
