State Rep. Laurie Bratten, R-Sheridan, is proposing legislation that would finally clear up what she says is a confusing Wyoming law on filling political vacancies at all levels in the state.
The ambiguity of the current law has led to frustration and multiple lawsuits over the way county commissioners have interpreted the law to fill vacant seats.
“It needs to be fixed,” Bratten told Cowboy State Daily. “Just fix it.”
That fix, she said, is to give the choice to the appropriate political party instead of the court system when a county commission, city council or other political body can’t make a choice to fill a vacancy on their own.
The Bill And Current Law
Wyoming law states that a local or state party of the outgoing person who held office, depending on the level of position that needs to be filled, provides three nominees for the replacement.
It’s then up to the local county commissioners or governor, depending on the level of position, to select the final nominee.
If the county commissioners fail to fill the vacancy within five days, any person living in the county or legislative district who is qualified to hold the office may file a petition with the clerk of the district court of the county or legislative district in which the vacancy occurred requesting a judge to fill the vacancy.
Within 30 days after the petition is filed, the judge shall fill the vacancy by appointing a person living in the county or legislative district belonging to the same political party as the incumbent represented who is qualified to hold the office.
Bratten’s House Bill 176 would change this process and send the appointment decision back to the local political party if the governor or commissioners fail to pick a nominee. If the incumbent didn’t represent a political party while holding office and no nominee is selected, a special election would be held.
Last week, the county commissioners in Park County dealt with the issue head on.
What Happened In Park County?
The Park County commissioners declined to pick any of the three nominees the Park County Republican Party had selected for a new county assessor due to concerns with the voting process used to select candidates.
The party made a few errors during its selection process, including failing to conduct a tiebreaker vote.
Under the rules adopted by the county party’s central committee, in the first round of voting, members were required to vote for five candidates and any ballots containing more or less than five votes were supposed to be disqualified. It was later discovered that did not happen with two ballots.
When it was identified after the meeting that the vote total was not a multiple of five, a recount was performed where the ballot discrepancies were discovered.
After learning of errors the party made in its nominating process, the commissioners said a judge should pick a replacement for the outgoing assessor out of concern the errors would open the county up to liability and declined to pick any one of the party’s nominees.
“I for one … have trouble voting on a process that we know had a flaw in it, what could be a significant flaw,” Commissioner Chairman Dossie Ovefield said during the meeting.
Precinct committeewoman Stefanie Bell filed a petition in the district court, initiating the process to get a judge involved by asking the court to proceed with picking a new assessor.
Overfield told Cowboy State Daily that Bell filed her petition as a private resident and not on behalf of the commissioners, nor was she told by the commissioners to do so.
Bell handed Overfield an envelope during the commission meeting, but Overfield said this simply contained information on problems that Bell saw at the GOP vote.
Bell’s petition was sent to Carbon County District Court Judge Dawnessa Snyder to rule on. She will have 30 days to fill the position.
Two of the assessor finalists and a state committeeman filed lawsuits last week and specifically asked a judge to order the commissioners to choose from the party’s nominees.
The finalists argued the recount was unofficial and the vote a matter of internal party business.
Snyder threw out their case, according to the Powell Tribune.
The other petition filed by Park County GOP Committeeman Vince Vanata offered similar arguments and noted that three of the five commissioners attended and participated in the vote and did not raise any objection to the process undertaken during the meeting.
“Any commentary, actions or other inappropriate activity inconsistent with the aforementioned governing documents is a nefarious act to "muddy the waters" by disgruntled persons who took issue with their "guy" not being selected,” Vanata wrote.
State law offers a more expansive interpretation to court-determined political vacancies, allowing Snyder to pick not only from the nominees but also every applicant for the position and any registered Republican in Park County.
The Park County GOP has been particularly adamant about election security and one of the most vocal advocates for hand count elections. Overfield told Cowboy State Daily that their decision to push the issue to a judge was not in any kind of response to this past history.
Snyder is inviting all qualified candidates interested to apply for the position between now and Monday.
She plans to publicly interview each of the eligible applicants on Jan. 29 and choose one as the next assessor. She’ll make a final decision no later than Feb. 14.
“It (the law) puts judges in a hard position,” Bratten said.
Recurring Problem
The appointment snafu in Park County is not an isolated situation.
In 2023, the Sheridan County commissioners made a similar decision, deferring to a judge to pick a new commissioner because they felt that none of the three finalists their local GOP provided them were qualified for the job. The judge ended up selecting one of the party’s three nominees, but the party still sued the commission over the way it handled the situation.
A nearly identical situation happened in Campbell County in 2018. As reported by the Gillette News Record at the time, several residents complained publicly about the Campbell County GOP’s process to select its nominees for a new commissioner. The Campbell County Commission was unable to come to a majority consensus about which party nominee to put on the board, so it turned to a district court judge to help make a decision.
The district court judge opened a new application period and received 13 applications, from which he selected current Campbell County Commissioner Del Shelstad.
A similar scenario also played out in Goshen County where a commissioner replacement was selected by a judge that hadn’t been nominated by the local GOP.
Although Gov. Mark Gordon didn’t raise any issues about it himself, a lawsuit was also filed over the way the Wyoming GOP conducted its voting process for an interim Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2022. The lawsuit was thrown out in court.
HB 176 has not been referred to a committee yet, but Bratten said when it is, she expects significant public testimony.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
