CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Laramie County will now have an additional voting precinct for the town of Pine Bluffs.
The Board of County Commissioners approved a resolution at its regular meeting Tuesday to reconfigure several voting precincts. County Clerk Debra Lee proposed the changes. Laramie County currently contains 40 precincts, but the formation of a new one will raise the total up to 41.
Precincts are like building blocks that form a voting district, Lee told Cap City News. These boundaries, which are typically reconfigured whenever the Wyoming State Legislature redraws its legislative districts, are used to form Senate, House and other jurisdictional boundaries such as school and college district trustee areas. The geographic regions also make up municipal and special districts — such as fire districts — within a respective county.
Precinct lines may be altered at any time by the county clerk, Lee said at Tuesday’s meeting.
The new changes will not affect any jurisdictional lines or where residents go to cast their ballots, Lee said.
Pine Bluffs elections
Currently, Pine Bluffs is split between precincts 5-2 and 5-3. The new precinct, 5-4, is drawn along the perimeter of the southeast Wyoming town.
Pine Bluffs Mayor Justin Fornstrom expressed his approval of the changes at Tuesday’s meeting.
“We feel like having the county administer our elections, for a number of reasons, will be beneficial to our town, not the least of which is greater voter turnout and public engagement in our elections,” Fornstrom said.
Pine Bluffs elections were previously held separately from the county, Lee said. Now, they will be held in conjunction with the rest of the county, starting with the upcoming primary election on Aug. 20.
Cheyenne precinct reconfigurations
One precinct in Cheyenne, 1-1, is being expanded to include existing areas of precinct 1-2.
Lee said the change is to correct an oversight that was made in 2022 following redistricting in the Wyoming State Legislature and precinct reconfiguration. After the precincts were altered and approved by the Laramie County Board of County Commissioners, the clerk’s office discovered that precinct 1-1, though large in geographical size, only contained one registered voter.
“The secrecy of this individual’s vote would be compromised,” Lee said at Tuesday’s meeting. “This is problematic, because Wyoming’s Constitution guarantees a secret ballot.”
The reconfiguration will also better balance out the precincts, as the number of voters in 1-2 is nearly double that of any other surrounding precinct, Lee said.
On top of redrawing the precinct boundaries, Laramie County commissioners designated a set number of elected precinct committee officers from the Republican and Democratic parties in the affected precincts in 2024. The five altered precincts will now host the following number of officers:
- 1-1: Two Republicans and one Democrat
- 1-2: Two Republicans and one Democrat
- 5-2: Four Republicans and one Democrat
- 5-3: Three Republicans and one Democrat
- 5-4: Two Republicans and one Democrat
Members of the county’s Republican and Democratic parties lauded Lee’s efforts, too. Taft Love, chair of Laramie County GOP, said the reconfigurations were well thought out. Jessica Nyffler, state chair member for the Laramie County Democratic Party, said she was also in support of the changes.
To view all precincts, view the county’s interactive online map here.
