Senate passes bill to list party affiliation for school board candidates

The Wyoming Senate passed Senate File 98 on Feb. 6, 2025, a bill to place party affiliation beside candidates’ names on school board trustee ballots. The bill, sponsored by Senator Olson, passed on third reading after a roll-call vote and will move on for further processing.

Supporters said adding party labels would give voters more information. “All this bill does is ask them to be elected,” Senator Olson said on the floor when the bill was introduced. Senator Cole argued the change would spur voter questions and debate during candidate forums, and called it “a step in the right direction” for informing voters.

Opponents warned the measure would increase partisan rancor in local school contests and raise campaign costs. Senator Case said voters and students benefit from shared civic experiences without party divisions and urged colleagues to resist the bill. Senator Schueller said he opposed the bill because it could push good candidates out of local races and require campaigns to spend “boatloads of money” to rebut misinformation tied to party labels.

After debate, the chief clerk recorded the roll call. The clerk announced the final tally as recorded on the floor: Senate File 98, 18 aye, 12 no, 1 excused. The presiding officer then announced that the bill "has passed the Senate." The formal motion and the tally were recorded in the Senate journal.

The legislation’s text as read on the floor describes changes “relating to ballots,” adding party affiliation next to the names of school board trustee candidates; additional implementation details were not specified during the debate.

What happens next: Having passed the Senate, the file will proceed through the remaining legislative processing steps listed in the Senate calendar and journal. The transcript records the bill as sponsored by Senator Olson and debated on third reading on Feb. 6, 2025.