Committee approves bill to place party affiliation next to school board candidates’ names

The Corporations, Elections & Political Subdivisions Committee on Feb. 14 voted to pass Senate File 98, a bill that would require a candidate’s party affiliation to appear next to the name of a school board trustee on the general election ballot.

The committee adopted a package of amendments and voted 7-2 on a roll call to pass the bill out of committee. Chairman Knapp announced, “With your approval, Senate File 98 does pass the committee.” The roll call recorded seven ayes and two noes.

Senator Olsen, the bill sponsor, told the committee the bill’s “only change … is that a party affiliation has to appear next to the name of the candidate running for school board.” He said the intent was limited to the general election and aimed at making ballot styling clearer for voters.

Committee members moved first to reverse an earlier amendment from a prior meeting that had, among other changes, removed community college trustees from the bill’s coverage. Vice Chairman Locke moved to reverse that prior amendment, with Representative Heft providing the second; the committee approved that motion.

The committee then adopted a set of technical and substantive cleanup amendments drafted to separate school district trustee provisions from community college trustee provisions and to address how party affiliation should be determined when candidate filing deadlines overlap the primary-election party-lockout period. Representative Yen moved an amendment to create separate application language for community college trustees and school trustees; Representative Weber seconded the motion and the amendment was adopted.

The Secretary of State’s office presented a separate amendment to address the timing interaction between the party-affiliation lockout period and the statutory candidate filing window. A Secretary of State staff member explained that in 2024 the school board filing window ran from Aug. 7 (90 days before the general election) to Aug. 26 (70 days before the general election) while the primary was Aug. 20, creating a six-day overlap when party changes were prohibited. The proposed language stipulates that if a candidate was registered to vote during the party-change prohibition period specified in Wyoming statute “20‑two‑five‑two‑14 A” the candidate’s affiliation for the subsection “shall be the party that the candidate was affiliated during that time period.” The amendment also provides a caveat that if a candidate was not registered during that lockout period, the affiliation recorded would be the party affiliation at the time the candidate files the application (the transcript references filing statutes as “22‑22‑202” for the filing deadline language).

At least one member of the public, Marguerite Herman, urged the committee to avoid a provision that would lock a candidate into an earlier party registration; she argued candidates should be able to have their current registration reflected on the day they file. Chairman Knapp noted that public comment was brief and the committee proceeded to vote on the amendment from the Secretary of State; the amendment carried.

A roll call vote on the final amended Senate File 98 recorded the following: Representative Brown — Aye; Representative Locke — Aye; Representative Heft — Aye; Representative Johnson — Aye; Representative Lucas — Aye; Representative Webb — No; Representative Weber — Aye; Representative Yin — No; Chairman Knapp — Aye. Chairman Knapp reported, “You have 7 ayes, 2 noes.”

The committee’s actions included reversing previous language that had removed community college trustees, adopting separate application and ballot-order language to keep community college trustee candidacies distinct from school trustees, and adopting Secretary of State-drafted timing language to define which registration controls a candidate’s party label when filing overlaps the party-change lockout.

The bill will be prepared for floor action, and committee members volunteered to work the bill on the House floor as needed.

Ending: The committee moved immediately to its next agenda item, Senate File 127, after approving Senate File 98.