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STATE OF WYOMING
25LSO-05471HB0236
HOUSE BILL NO. HB0236
County officials-nonpartisan elections.
Sponsored by: Representative(s) Chestek, Brown, L, Harshman
and Yin and Senator(s) Cooper and Rothfuss
A BILL
for
1 AN ACT relating to elections; providing for the nonpartisan
2 nomination and election of candidates for specified county
3 elected offices; modifying the procedure to fill vacancies
4 for nonpartisan county elected offices; providing for the
5 order of offices on nonpartisan election ballots;
6 specifying the form of election ballots; making conforming
7 amendments; repealing a conflicting provision; and
8 providing for an effective date.
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12W.S. 5-3-201, 7-4-101, 9-1-801, 18-3-101,
13 22-4-304(b), 22-5-203 by creating a new subsection (c),
14 22-5-215, 22-5-304(b), 22-6-117(a)(ix), 22-6-125(a) by
15 creating a new paragraph (vi) and by renumbering (vi) 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-05472HB0236
1 through (xiv) as (vii) through (xv), 22-6-126 by creating a
2 new subsection (c) and 22-18-111(a)(ii) and (vi) are
3 amended to read:
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9 There shall be a clerk of the district court in each
10 organized county of the state whose term of office shall be
11 four (4) years and until his successor is elected and
12 qualified.
13 Clerks of the district court shall be
14 elected at general elections in counties of the first and
15 second class; and in all other counties the county clerk
16 shall be ex officio clerk of the district court, and shall
17 perform all of the duties pertaining to the office of clerk
18 of the district court.
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20-4-101. Election; oath; bond.
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22 A coroner shall be elected in each county for a term of
23 four (4) years. 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-05473HB0236
1 He shall take the oath prescribed by the
2 constitution of the state and give bond to the state of
3 Wyoming, in the penal sum of one hundred thousand dollars
4 ($100,000.00), with a sufficient surety, to be approved by
5 the board of county commissioners, conditioned that he will
6 faithfully perform all duties required by law.
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11 There shall be in each judicial district in which any one
12 (1) county has reached a population of sixty thousand
13 (60,000) or more the office of district attorney. In each
14 of the remaining judicial districts there shall be the
15 office of district attorney whenever a majority of the
16 county commissioners in each county within the judicial
17 district shall resolve that such an office of district
18 attorney should be created in that judicial district.
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6 All county officers elected at a general election
7 shall qualify and assume their offices on the first Monday
8 in January next following their election.
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12 (b) The chairman and secretary of the state or county
13 political convention shall certify to the county clerk the
14 names of its party's nominees for
15county commissioner.
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7 On each party ballot the candidate or candidates
8 equal in number to the number to be elected to each office
9 who receive the largest number of votes shall be nominated
10 and shall be entitled to have their names printed on the
11 ballot for the next general election. A write-in candidate
12 shall not be nominated and shall not be entitled to have
13 his name printed on the ballot for the next general
14 election unless he received at least twenty-five (25)
15 write-in votes in the primary election and is a registered
16 voter in the political party for which he was nominated on
17 the day of the primary election. An unsuccessful candidate
18 for office at a primary election whose name is printed on
19 any party ballot may not accept nomination for the same
20 office at the next general election.
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11 (b) For a
12, a petition shall be signed by registered
13 electors, resident in the county and eligible to vote for
14 the petitioner, numbering not less than two percent (2%) of
15 the total number of votes cast for representative in
16 congress in the last general election for the entire
17 county.
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21 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-05477HB02361 (a) The major party primary and general partisan
2 election ballots shall contain the offices to be voted on
3 in the following order:
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5 (ix) Candidates for county commissioner;,
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13 (a) The nonpartisan ballot shall contain the offices
14 and ballot propositions to be voted on in the following
15 order:
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22 (vii) Candidates for municipal offices;
23 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-05478HB02361 (viii)
2 trustees;
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4 (ix) Candidates for school board trustees;
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6 (x) Candidates for special district
7 directors;
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9 (xi) Candidates for other offices of county
10 subdivisions;
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12 (xii) Constitutional amendments;
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14 (xiii)
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16 (xiv)
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18 (xv) Other ballot propositions.
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14 (a) Any vacancy in any other elective office in the
15 state except representative in congress or the board of
16 trustees of a school or community college district, shall
17 be filled by the governing body, or as otherwise provided
18 in this section, by appointment of a temporary successor.
19 The person appointed shall serve until a successor for the
20 remainder of the unexpired term is elected at the next
21 general election and takes office on the first Monday of
22 the following January. Provided, if a vacancy in a four
23 (4) year term of office occurs in the term's second or 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-054711HB0236
1 subsequent years after the first day for filing an
2 application for nomination pursuant to W.S. 22-5-209, no
3 election to fill the vacancy shall be held and the
4 temporary successor appointed shall serve the remainder of
5 the unexpired term. The following apply:
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7 (ii) If a vacancy occurs in a county elective
8 office, except as provided in W.S. 18-3-524, the board of
9 county commissioners of the county in which the vacancy
10 occurs shall
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4 publish in a newspaper of general circulation in the county
5, notice that within fifteen (15)
6 days after publication any person qualified to hold the
7 office may make application directly to the county
8 commissioners for appointment to fill the vacancy. Within
9 twenty (20) days after the publication of the vacancy in
10 office the county commissioners shall fill the vacancy by
11 appointment of one (1) person qualified to hold the office
12 from those submitting applications;
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14 (vi) If the county commissioners fail to fill
15 any vacancy as required in this section within the time
16 specified, any person residing in the county or legislative
17 district who is qualified to hold the office may file a
18 petition with the clerk of the district court of the county
19 or legislative district in which the vacancy occurred
20 requesting the judge of the district court to fill the
21 vacancy. Within thirty (30) days after the petition is
22 filed the judge shall fill the vacancy by appointing
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8 residing in the county or legislative district who is
9 qualified to hold the office to fill the vacancy.
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11W.S. 22-6-126(a) is repealed.
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13. This act is effective July 1, 2025
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15 (END)