Crossover voters did make an impact in Park County’s summer primary election, although whether it was enough to alter any results is up for debate.

Nearly 10% of the Republican primary voters in Park County last summer had changed their political affiliation to the Republican Party since the start of the year, according to stats released by Park County Elections.

Of the 1,165 voters who changed their party from the start of the year to the primary, 555 went from Democrat to Republican, while 537 changed from unaffiliated to Republican and 47 from a minor party to Republican. However, only roughly 10% of those who switched have switched back. In all, just 136 voters changed affiliation from Republican to Democrat, unaffiliated or third party prior to the general.

That amount of crossover voters is more than double 2018, the last midterm election year, when there were 422 affiliation changes, the vast majority to Republican.

Republicans actually gained 2,104 voters from the start of the year through the primary, but the other group of 951 were new or reactivated Republican voters. That made for a total 15.6% increase in Republican voters in the county from Jan. 1 to Aug. 16, while unaffiliated voters fell 24.2% and Democrats 33.1%.

Those who were registered Republican took advantage of being able to vote in so many contested primaries, as 76.8% turned out to vote in August, compared to 23.4% of Democrats and 11.6% of independents.

The vast majority of voters who changed parties did so after the opening of the filing period, with only 59 changing prior to that point. On primary Election Day 412 voters changed affiliation, nearly all registering as Republicans.

That movement came in the wake of the campaign of U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., encouraging voters to switch parties to Republican to be able to vote for her in the race against Harriet Hageman. Hageman still coasted to an easy primary win and won Park County by a three-to-one margin, above the state average.

Previous legislation that failed in the Legislature would have restricted party changes in the final days leading up to the primary. The stats do not make clear, however, who these new Park County Republicans voted for.