Dear editor:

In case the legislators don’t settle the matter, petitions are circulating in the county to have an initiative related to crossover voting placed on the ballot in the next election. The voters would be asked, “Shall a law be enacted: Prohibiting electors in Wyoming from changing their political party affiliation between May 1 in an election year through the day of the primary election.”

Each party has a platform so that people can decide which party best fits their beliefs. Each party has separate primaries. Each primary is conducted so that people from that party can decide who they would like to represent them in the general election. People who disagree with a platform should not be voting in that party’s primary.

In the 2018 primary, 12,500 Wyoming voters switched their party affiliation (6,000 Democrats and 4,300 unaffiliated), became Republicans, and voted in the Republican primary. In the 2022 primary, 21,073 voters (13,014 Democrats and 8,059 unaffiliated) switched their party affiliations and voted in the Republican primary. Liz Cheney encouraged Democrats to do that in 2022 so that Democrats could vote for her, a self-proclaimed Republican. When Democrats switch to the Republican primary, they are determining which Republican candidate will run. Statewide that might not be possible, but it is definitely possible in county and local races.

In the 2022 Democratic primary, only 8,201 Democrats voted compared to the 25,526 Democrats who voted in their primary in 2020 and the 19,459 Democrats who voted in the 2018 Democratic primary. Has crossover voting become a trend? What do you think? If you’d like to see this issue placed on the ballot so that citizens can decide if this should continue or not, please call me at 307-764-1808. I have a petition you can sign, or I can get you in contact with someone closer to you if you aren’t in Powell.

Dona Becker

Powell