By Ivy Secrest
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
Via- Wyoming News Exchange

CHEYENNE — The Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Committee voted Friday to sponsor a bill draft that would add citizenship/residency status to state-issued identification cards.

If passed during the 2025 general session, the bill would require a complete redesign of ID cards issued by the Wyoming Department of Transportation. The additions would be a line reading, “Not a United States citizen” and colors that would indicate the citizenship status of a cardholder.

The number of these types of cards needed and the cost are unknown at this time.

The bill’s intent, according to Secretary of State Chuck Gray, is to take a “step in the right direction” by continuing to enforce voter security and make the jobs of county clerks easier when registering voters.

“While we do have safeguards in place to ensure that only United States citizens are registering to vote, which is called a HAVA check, there are a number of areas where there are weaknesses that can be exposed,” Gray told the committee. “That’s why we need to continue to shore up this frontend monitoring, which I think this bill draft does.”

Gray’s primary concern is addressing alleged instances of noncitizens registering to vote, even though there have been no recent reports of noncitizens voting.

WYDOT Driver Services Program Manager Misty Zimmerman testified that there is already a nonresident designation on ID cards, marked by an “NR” for nonresident, but that doesn’t indicate citizenship.

Zimmerman testified that no matter the type of addition to the driver’s license or ID card — whether it be a symbol, a line of text or a color — WYDOT would need to completely redesign the cards to accommodate the change.

Gray was asked several times by Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, to clarify the need for the bill given existing identifications in place. Gray was unable to quantify a need beyond his own suspicions.

Instead, he reiterated his concerns about being able to adequately record these suspected incidents of noncitizens registering to vote.

“I appreciate everything that you just mentioned there, Secretary Gray. Not once did you answer my question about the ‘NR’ doing the designation and what more this is going to protect when we already have front-end discussions,” Brown said.

In addition to concerns about need and cost, one issue with passing this draft bill is the limited information a physical ID provides.

“What we’re talking about is changing the look of the physical credential, and from a timing perspective, it may be a slightly antiquated way of dealing with the issue,” WYDOT Deputy Director Taylor Rossetti said. “That card, when it’s printed, it’s a snapshot in time. The status of that individual could change, they could become a citizen during that time period, and maybe didn’t come back in and get a new credential.”

Rossetti testified that by the 2026 election cycle, there may be a more technologically advanced way to address the issue without spending the time and money redesigning ID cards.

Zimmerman testified that by waiting on WYDOT’s modernization project, which is expected to be launched next year, mobile ID could be used to show real-time status, as opposed to looking at a limited physical ID.

Mary Lankford, representing the County Clerks Association of Wyoming, reiterated the benefit of waiting for the mobile IDs. Saying that while county clerks appreciate the support in clarifying the registration process, they also want to be clear that they very rarely have noncitizens attempt to register to vote.

“We understand the concern of noncitizens attempting to register to vote, after all, only Wyoming citizens should be voting in Wyoming elections,” Lankford said. “… Proper participation in the WYDOT system modernization project would provide up-to-date citizenship and residency information without the redesign of the current card.”

Regardless, the committee voted 10-4 to sponsor the draft bill, with opposition coming from Brown; Sen. Evie Brennan, R-Cheyenne; Rep. Kevin O’Hearn, R-Mills; and Rep. Jerry Obermueller, R-Casper.

“In my opinion, this was not a request of the Management Council, this was not an interim topic assigned to us, this was not something that was brought to us,” Brown said. “This is well outside the wheelhouse, trying to fix something when it comes to voting. We’re going to redesign and tell WYDOT to go fix something that we can do within our rules, and we’re already in that process.”

“I think we have to have as much confidence in the system with the constituents,” Sen. John Kolb, R-Rock Springs, said. “It’s not to say that I think this is a necessary thing at that level, but I believe that’s irrelevant in this case.  What’s relevant is what people think. I think whatever we can do to make them have confidence in our system is what we need to do.”

Should the amended draft bill pass, the change would take place Jan. 1, 2026, rather than the originally proposed date of July 1, 2025.