A nonprofit group Friday asked the federal court of Wyoming to block a new state law that would require people to provide proof of U.S. citizenship and at least 30 days’ Wyoming residency to vote.
The Equality State Policy Center, which has a stated mission of advancing fair elections and transparent government, alleges in a Friday civil complaint in the U.S. District Court for Wyoming that the newly-enacted 2025 House Bill 156 will discourage eligible voters from going to the polls.
Effective July 1, the new law requires people to provide proof of citizenship and 30 days’ Wyoming residency to register to vote in the state.
The law disallows using any documentation showing the person is not U.S. citizen to register to vote.
The Equality State Policy Center’s complaint says the following groups will face a higher risk of disenfranchisement under the law:
• Women whose new married or divorced names might not reflect their identifying documents.
• Transgender people in a similar plight from changing their names.
• Hispanic people who are eligible to vote but may struggle with the documentation.
• People who lack stable housing.
• People who were adopted or taken into foster care.
• People too disabled to drive and have a driver’s license.
• Young voters.
• People in rural areas where the driver services offices keep sporadic and sparse hours of operation.
Is It Constitutional?
The complaint, filed via the group’s attorney Darold W. Killmer of Denver-based Killmer Lane LLP, asks the federal court to deem the new law unconstitutional and block Secretary of State Chuck Gray and the state’s county clerks from enforcing it.
The complaint says the law places an undue burden on the right to vote, and is unconstitutionally vague.
"Wyoming has a proud tradition of fair and secure elections, and there is no evidence of non-citizen voting or widespread fraud to justify the harsh new restrictions in HB 156," ESPC Executive Director Jenny DeSarro said in a Friday press release, to which the lawsuit complaint was attached.
The lawsuit comes after Gov. Mark Gordon allowed the bill to become law without his signature.
Gordon, a Republican, cited legal concerns for not signing it and worried the law “adheres to neither the original construction of our Constitution nor federal law.”
Gordon said Wyoming has an "excellent track record with election integrity and security."
Under existing Wyoming law, voters already must provide proof of identity and attest under penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens living in Wyoming.
HB 156 goes further by requiring specific documentation to prove citizenship and residency status, and requiring voters to attest that they have resided in Wyoming for at least 30 days before casting a ballot.
Voter fraud in Wyoming is rare, and the case of a non-citizen voting that the bill’s proponents cited during its advancement wouldn’t have been captured by it anyway since the culprit had fraudulently obtained a driver’s license, the complaint says.
It also laments what it calls Wyoming’s low voter turnout, with 44% of eligible Wyomingites voting in the 2022 general election.
“The Legislature has voted to make it harder (to vote) with HB 156, based on scaremongering about noncitizen participation,” says the complaint. “Wyoming’s elections will become even less reflective of the actual will of its residents than they currently are.”
‘Radical Left’
The complaint repeatedly chides Gray for his backing of HB 156 and other election reforms, both as secretary of state and in his prior role as a Casper-based Republican state legislator.
Gray in a Friday text message to Cowboy State Daily fired back, equating the challenge with “the radical Left.”
“This lawsuit shows how far the radical left is willing to go to try to stop election integrity,” wrote Gray. “The far-left’s lawsuit is a meritless attempt to undermine the commonsense election integrity measures Wyomingites want.”
Proof of citizenship and residency are “pivotal to election integrity” and commonsense measures, he wrote, “Which is why House Bill 156 was the number one priority of our conservative election agenda during the 2025 Legislative session.”
Gray said he’s committed to upholding the law and defending it vigorously.
“We will fight this lawsuit and the false claims in it,” Gray added. “And we will win.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
