WY
Wyoming House Bill HB0035

Wyoming 2025 Regular Session

Wyoming House Bill HB0035 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.
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11 2025
22 STATE OF WYOMING
33 25LSO-01911HB0035
44 HOUSE BILL NO. HB0035
55 Vacancies in elected office.
66 Sponsored by: Representative(s) Harshman and Larson, JT and
77 Senator(s) Anderson and Crum
88 A BILL
99 for
1010 1 AN ACT relating to elections; amending procedures for
1111 2 filling vacancies in specified federal and state offices;
1212 3 requiring special elections as specified; making conforming
1313 4 amendments; repealing obsolete provisions; and providing
1414 5 for an effective date.
1515 6
1616 7
1717 8
1818 9W.S. 9-1-212, 9-1-802(e),
1919 10 22-2-101(a)(iii), 22-2-110(a), 22-2-111(a), 22-18-103,
2020 11 22-18-105 through 22-18-109, 22-18-111(a)(intro) and
2121 12 (iii)(intro) and 28-1-106 are amended to read:
2222 13 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-01912HB00351
2323 2
2424 3
2525 4
2626 5 Whenever the powers and duties of the office of the
2727 6 governor of the state of Wyoming devolve upon any other
2828 7 person as provided in W.S. 9-1-211(a), the person acting as
2929 8 governor shall continue to act as governor until the end of
3030 9 the term of the governor if the office is assumed less than
3131 10 sixty (60) days before the next general election. If the
3232 11 office is assumed more than sixty (60) days before a
3333 12 general election the person acting as governor shall
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4444 23 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-01913HB0035
4545 1 shall, within thirty (30) days after the
4646 2
4747 3 qualify and assume the duties and powers of governor, and
4848 4 shall be the governor of the state of Wyoming for the
4949 5 remainder of the unexpired term of the governor.
5050 6
5151 7
5252 8
5353 9
5454 10 (e) A vacancy in the office of district attorney
5555 11 shall be filled by the board or boards of county
5656 12 commissioners under the procedure for filling vacancies in
5757 13 the office of a member of the state legislature or state
5858 14 senator established by W.S.
5959 15
6060 16 general election and the appointee shall be qualified
6161 17 pursuant to subsections (b) and (c) of this section.
6262 18
6363 19
6464 20
6565 21
6666 22 (a) Chapters 1 through 28 of this Election Code apply
6767 23 to the following elections: 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-01914HB0035
6868 1
6969 2 (iii) Special elections to fill vacancies
7070 3
7171 4
7272 5
7373 6
7474 7
7575 8
7676 9
7777 10 (a) Except for special elections to fill vacancies
7878 11 through
7979 12 22-18-109, periods of time are computed by excluding the
8080 13 specific day and counting the prescribed number of days,
8181 14 including Saturdays, Sundays and full legal holidays. If
8282 15 the first day of a time period falls on a Saturday, Sunday
8383 16 or full legal holiday, the preceding day which is not a
8484 17 Saturday, Sunday or full legal holiday shall be used. If
8585 18 the last day of a time period falls on a Saturday, Sunday
8686 19 or full legal holiday, the next day which is not a
8787 20 Saturday, Sunday or full legal holiday shall be used. All
8888 21 days, except the specific day, but including the last day,
8989 22 shall be used to compute the time limits established under
9090 23 W.S. 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-01915HB0035
9191 1 day of a time period falls on a Saturday, Sunday or full
9292 2 legal holiday in which case the next day which is not a
9393 3 Saturday, Sunday or full legal holiday shall be used.
9494 4
9595 5
9696 6
9797 7 (a) Any person entitled to vote at any primary or
9898 8 general election or special election to fill a vacancy
9999 9
100100 10 is, on the
101101 11 day of such election, entitled to absent himself from any
102102 12 service or employment in which he is then engaged or
103103 13 employed for a period of one (1) hour, other than meal
104104 14 hours, the hour being at the convenience of the employer,
105105 15 between the time of opening and closing of the polls. Such
106106 16 elector shall not, because of so absenting himself, lose
107107 17 any pay, providing he actually casts his legal vote.
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112112 22 A vacancy in the office of
113113 23 representative in congress, member of the state legislature 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-01916HB0035
114114 1 shall be filled
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120120 7.
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125125 12 If the
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128128 15 vacancy
129129 16 occurs within
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131131 18 shall be filled at the general
132132 19 election:. Otherwise
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148148 13 the special election
149149 14 shall occur on the firstnext following the:
150150 15
151151 16ighty-ninth day after the vacancy occurs,
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158158 23 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-01918HB00351
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162162 5 Tuesday falls on a full legal holiday,
163163 6 election shall occur on the next
164164 7 Tuesday which that is not a full legal holiday.
165165 8
166166 9 The governor
167167 10 shall declare vacancy and issue
168168 11 writ of election within five (5) days after the
169169 12 vacancy occurs.
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177177 20 An elector qualified to hold office
178178 21 be nominated by
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180180 23 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-01919HB0035
181181 1
182182 2. Nominations
183183 3 with the secretary of state and fees paid within seven (7)
184184 4 days after the vacancy is officially declared. Independent
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192192 12 Within five (5) days after the end of the candidate filing
193193 13 period , the secretary of state
194194 14 shall certify to the clerks of counties voting to fill the
195195 15 vacancy the name of each candidate qualified to appear on
196196 16 the ballot, party affiliation or
197197 17 independent status, if declared.
198198 18
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202202 22 A candidate for the unexpired term of office
203203 23 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-019110HB0035
204204 1 candidate of the political party in which
205205 2 was registered on the date the vacancy occurred. A
206206 3 candidate for the unexpired term of office
207207 4
208208 5 party on the date the vacancy occurred may run only as an
209209 6 independent.
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214214 11 A special election to fill a vacancy shall be conducted by
215215 12 the county clerk as nearly as possible in the manner of a
216216 13 general election.
217217 14
218218 15
219219 16 The candidate who receives a plurality of the votes at a
220220 17 special election shall be issued a certificate of election
221221 18 as provided by law.
222222 19
223223 20
224224 21
225225 22 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-019111HB00351 (a) Any vacancy in any other elective office in the
226226 2 state except
227227 3 or the board of trustees of a
228228 4 school or community college district, shall be filled by
229229 5 the governing body, or as otherwise provided in this
230230 6 section, by appointment of a temporary successor. The
231231 7 person appointed shall serve until a successor for the
232232 8 remainder of the unexpired term is elected at the next
233233 9 general election and takes office on the first Monday of
234234 10 the following January.
235235 11, if a vacancy in a four (4) year term of office
236236 12 occurs in the term's second or subsequent years after the
237237 13 first day for filing an application for nomination pursuant
238238 14 to W.S. 22-5-209, no election to fill the vacancy shall be
239239 15 held and the temporary successor appointed shall serve the
240240 16 remainder of the unexpired term. The following apply:
241241 17
242242 18 (iii) Notwithstanding W.S. 22-18-103 through
243243 19f a vacancy occurs in the office of a member of
244244 20 the state legislature
245245 21
246246 22:
247247 23 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-019112HB00351
248248 2
249249 3 Resignation of the office of a member of the
250250 4 senate or house of representatives shall be made to the
251251 5 governor, who shall immediately notify the
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259259 13
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262262 16 state
263263 17 central committee of the party which the member represented
264264 18 at the time of
265265 19 at the time of ,
266266 20
267267 21 represent a political party at the time of
268268 22 at the time of
269269 23 the governor shall notify the appropriate boards of county 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-019113HB0035
270270 1 commissioners who shall proceed in accordance with W.S.
271271 2 22-18-111(a)(iii)(C).
272272 3
273273 4 For purposes of this section, a person shall be
274274 5 considered to "represent" a political party if
275275 6 was a nominee of that political party when elected
276276 7 to office or when appointed to fill a vacancy in office.
277277 8
278278 9W.S. 22-18-104 and 22-18-111(a)(i) are
279279 10 repealed.
280280 11
281281 12This act is effective immediately upon
282282 13 completion of all acts necessary for a bill to become law
283283 14 as provided by Article 4, Section 8 of the Wyoming
284284 15 Constitution.
285285 16
286286 17 (END)