CHEYENNE — The Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office today released data on the number of people who changed their party affiliation on their voter registration in the weeks before or on the date of the 2018 Primary Election – August 21st.

Here’s a look inside the numbers from July 6 through September 20:

• 12,509 people in total changed their party affiliation
• 6,057 Democrats changed and registered as Republicans
• 4,355 Unaffiliated persons changed and registered as Republicans
• 744 Unaffiliated persons changed and registered as Democrats
• 477 members of the Constitution and Libertarian parties changed and registered as Republicans;
• 430 Republicans changed and registered as Democrats; and
• 296 people of various parties changed and registered as Unaffiliated.

Of those 12,509 people who changed their party affiliation, 701 subsequently changed their party affiliation again and re-registered back to their original 2018 party affiliation.

For a complete breakdown of Wyoming’s county-by-county affiliation changes, click here.

A person is allowed under Wyoming law to change their party registration. Party changes are entered into Wyoming’s voter registration system by county clerks and their staff.  County clerks have until 30 days after an election to enter registration changes into the statewide database.

“It is absolutely vital that anyone analyzing these party change numbers understand that these numbers are tied to a person’s voter registration and do not represent total ballots cast in the election, and that these numbers do not indicate for whom a person voted,” said State Election Director Kai Schon.