ROCK SPRINGS – A lawsuit filed by the Equality State Policy Center challenges new voting regulations enacted when House Bill 156 became law earlier this year. 

The lawsuit was filed Friday and claims HB 156 violates state and federal law while threatening to take the right to vote away from legitimate Wyoming voters. The bill requires people to provide proof of residency and proof of citizenship when registering to vote. Gov. Mark Gordon allowed the bill to pass without his signature after it made its way through the Wyoming Legislature. He also foresaw the bill’s passage resulting in litigation.

“How we balance the twin goals of encouraging participation and assuring that participation is limited to qualified electors, especially considering Wyoming’s already excellent track record with election integrity and security, is clearly the challenge with which the Wyoming Legislature and Secretary of State continue to wrestle,” Gordon wrote in a letter to Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray. “Because I believe in adequate checks to ensure only qualified electors can vote, I am allowing this bill to become law despite the likelihood that it will invite litigation.”

Gray criticized the lawsuit and said he would fight it. Gray said it “shows how far the radical Left is willing to go  to try to stop election integrity.” He calls the lawsuit meritless and says it attempts to undermine “common sense election integrity measures Wyomingites want.”