WY
Wyoming House Bill HB0236

Wyoming 2025 Regular Session

Wyoming House Bill HB0236 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-05471HB0236
44 HOUSE BILL NO. HB0236
55 County officials-nonpartisan elections.
66 Sponsored by: Representative(s) Chestek, Brown, L, Harshman
77 and Yin and Senator(s) Cooper and Rothfuss
88 A BILL
99 for
1010 1 AN ACT relating to elections; providing for the nonpartisan
1111 2 nomination and election of candidates for specified county
1212 3 elected offices; modifying the procedure to fill vacancies
1313 4 for nonpartisan county elected offices; providing for the
1414 5 order of offices on nonpartisan election ballots;
1515 6 specifying the form of election ballots; making conforming
1616 7 amendments; repealing a conflicting provision; and
1717 8 providing for an effective date.
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2020 11
2121 12W.S. 5-3-201, 7-4-101, 9-1-801, 18-3-101,
2222 13 22-4-304(b), 22-5-203 by creating a new subsection (c),
2323 14 22-5-215, 22-5-304(b), 22-6-117(a)(ix), 22-6-125(a) by
2424 15 creating a new paragraph (vi) and by renumbering (vi) 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-05472HB0236
2525 1 through (xiv) as (vii) through (xv), 22-6-126 by creating a
2626 2 new subsection (c) and 22-18-111(a)(ii) and (vi) are
2727 3 amended to read:
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3333 9 There shall be a clerk of the district court in each
3434 10 organized county of the state whose term of office shall be
3535 11 four (4) years and until his successor is elected and
3636 12 qualified.
3737 13 Clerks of the district court shall be
3838 14 elected at general elections in counties of the first and
3939 15 second class; and in all other counties the county clerk
4040 16 shall be ex officio clerk of the district court, and shall
4141 17 perform all of the duties pertaining to the office of clerk
4242 18 of the district court.
4343 19
4444 20-4-101. Election; oath; bond.
4545 21
4646 22 A coroner shall be elected in each county for a term of
4747 23 four (4) years. 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-05473HB0236
4848 1 He shall take the oath prescribed by the
4949 2 constitution of the state and give bond to the state of
5050 3 Wyoming, in the penal sum of one hundred thousand dollars
5151 4 ($100,000.00), with a sufficient surety, to be approved by
5252 5 the board of county commissioners, conditioned that he will
5353 6 faithfully perform all duties required by law.
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5858 11 There shall be in each judicial district in which any one
5959 12 (1) county has reached a population of sixty thousand
6060 13 (60,000) or more the office of district attorney. In each
6161 14 of the remaining judicial districts there shall be the
6262 15 office of district attorney whenever a majority of the
6363 16 county commissioners in each county within the judicial
6464 17 district shall resolve that such an office of district
6565 18 attorney should be created in that judicial district.
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7575 6 All county officers elected at a general election
7676 7 shall qualify and assume their offices on the first Monday
7777 8 in January next following their election.
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8181 12 (b) The chairman and secretary of the state or county
8282 13 political convention shall certify to the county clerk the
8383 14 names of its party's nominees for
8484 15county commissioner.
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9898 7 On each party ballot the candidate or candidates
9999 8 equal in number to the number to be elected to each office
100100 9 who receive the largest number of votes shall be nominated
101101 10 and shall be entitled to have their names printed on the
102102 11 ballot for the next general election. A write-in candidate
103103 12 shall not be nominated and shall not be entitled to have
104104 13 his name printed on the ballot for the next general
105105 14 election unless he received at least twenty-five (25)
106106 15 write-in votes in the primary election and is a registered
107107 16 voter in the political party for which he was nominated on
108108 17 the day of the primary election. An unsuccessful candidate
109109 18 for office at a primary election whose name is printed on
110110 19 any party ballot may not accept nomination for the same
111111 20 office at the next general election.
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125125 11 (b) For a
126126 12, a petition shall be signed by registered
127127 13 electors, resident in the county and eligible to vote for
128128 14 the petitioner, numbering not less than two percent (2%) of
129129 15 the total number of votes cast for representative in
130130 16 congress in the last general election for the entire
131131 17 county.
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135135 21 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-05477HB02361 (a) The major party primary and general partisan
136136 2 election ballots shall contain the offices to be voted on
137137 3 in the following order:
138138 4
139139 5 (ix) Candidates for county commissioner;,
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147147 13 (a) The nonpartisan ballot shall contain the offices
148148 14 and ballot propositions to be voted on in the following
149149 15 order:
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156156 22 (vii) Candidates for municipal offices;
157157 23 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-05478HB02361 (viii)
158158 2 trustees;
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160160 4 (ix) Candidates for school board trustees;
161161 5
162162 6 (x) Candidates for special district
163163 7 directors;
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165165 9 (xi) Candidates for other offices of county
166166 10 subdivisions;
167167 11
168168 12 (xii) Constitutional amendments;
169169 13
170170 14 (xiii)
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172172 16 (xiv)
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174174 18 (xv) Other ballot propositions.
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212212 14 (a) Any vacancy in any other elective office in the
213213 15 state except representative in congress or the board of
214214 16 trustees of a school or community college district, shall
215215 17 be filled by the governing body, or as otherwise provided
216216 18 in this section, by appointment of a temporary successor.
217217 19 The person appointed shall serve until a successor for the
218218 20 remainder of the unexpired term is elected at the next
219219 21 general election and takes office on the first Monday of
220220 22 the following January. Provided, if a vacancy in a four
221221 23 (4) year term of office occurs in the term's second or 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-054711HB0236
222222 1 subsequent years after the first day for filing an
223223 2 application for nomination pursuant to W.S. 22-5-209, no
224224 3 election to fill the vacancy shall be held and the
225225 4 temporary successor appointed shall serve the remainder of
226226 5 the unexpired term. The following apply:
227227 6
228228 7 (ii) If a vacancy occurs in a county elective
229229 8 office, except as provided in W.S. 18-3-524, the board of
230230 9 county commissioners of the county in which the vacancy
231231 10 occurs shall
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248248 4 publish in a newspaper of general circulation in the county
249249 5, notice that within fifteen (15)
250250 6 days after publication any person qualified to hold the
251251 7 office may make application directly to the county
252252 8 commissioners for appointment to fill the vacancy. Within
253253 9 twenty (20) days after the publication of the vacancy in
254254 10 office the county commissioners shall fill the vacancy by
255255 11 appointment of one (1) person qualified to hold the office
256256 12 from those submitting applications;
257257 13
258258 14 (vi) If the county commissioners fail to fill
259259 15 any vacancy as required in this section within the time
260260 16 specified, any person residing in the county or legislative
261261 17 district who is qualified to hold the office may file a
262262 18 petition with the clerk of the district court of the county
263263 19 or legislative district in which the vacancy occurred
264264 20 requesting the judge of the district court to fill the
265265 21 vacancy. Within thirty (30) days after the petition is
266266 22 filed the judge shall fill the vacancy by appointing
267267 23 2025STATE OF WYOMING25LSO-054713HB0236
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275275 8 residing in the county or legislative district who is
276276 9 qualified to hold the office to fill the vacancy.
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278278 11W.S. 22-6-126(a) is repealed.
279279 12
280280 13. This act is effective July 1, 2025
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282282 15 (END)