{"id":1505,"date":"2020-03-26T12:00:36","date_gmt":"2020-03-26T16:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/raisethevote\/?p=1505"},"modified":"2020-03-18T12:46:26","modified_gmt":"2020-03-18T16:46:26","slug":"wyoming-democratic-party-experiments-for-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/connect.apsanet.org\/raisethevote\/2020\/03\/26\/wyoming-democratic-party-experiments-for-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Wyoming Democratic Party Experiments for 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Wyoming is the nation\u2019s least populous state and has a long history of voting for Republicans in presidential elections.\u00a0 As a result, presidential candidates rarely campaign in the state during the autumn months preceding the November election.\u00a0 The nomination process during the spring months, however, draws attention to Wyoming as candidates seek pledged delegates to the national conventions.\u00a0 In 2008, the Wyoming Democratic county caucuses were the only event nationwide related to delegate selection held on March 8, a Saturday midway through the tight nomination campaign.\u00a0 Then-senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and former president Bill Clinton all visited the state in the three days leading up to the caucuses.\u00a0 The tight race for the Democratic nomination in 2016 brought Senator Bernie Sanders to the University of Wyoming campus for a well-publicized rally shortly before the caucuses.\u00a0 (Various Republican candidates also visit the state during the nomination stage but, because of their familiarity, usually with much less fanfare.) The current state of the 2020 primary presents the likelihood that the race for Democratic National Convention delegates will run deep into the spring, suggesting that Wyoming will once more get its share of attention in advance of the Milwaukee convention.\u00a0 Moreover, two new reforms\u2014a hybrid primary\/caucus model and preferential balloting\u2014were expected to draw attention to the Equality State\u2019s caucuses this year.\u00a0 Events will not unfold as planned because of the COVID-19 outbreak and a narrowing of the candidate field.<\/p>\n

Wyoming Democrats did not expect to have a day to themselves this year as their caucuses were scheduled for April 4, the same day as primaries in Alaska, Hawaii, and Louisiana. The absence of delegate-selection events in large states during the two weeks preceding the state\u2019s caucuses and only the Wisconsin primary occurring the following week provide Senator Sanders and former vice president Joe Biden incentives and ample opportunities to schedule rallies in Wyoming if they choose to continue campaigning through normal modes.\u00a0 Sanders enters as the odds-on favorite, given his victory in the 2016 caucuses.\u00a0 However, Biden\u2019s moderate policy message and strategy of reminding voters of his links to Barack Obama, the winner of the 2008 caucuses, likely will make him competitive if not victorious.\u00a0 Individuals must be registered to vote in Wyoming as Democrats to participate in the caucuses; unaffiliated voters and Republicans are excluded.<\/p>\n

First and most importantly, Wyoming\u2019s Democrats planned a shift from a pure caucus to a hybrid primary-caucus model.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Various criticisms of the process for selecting states\u2019 delegates to national conventions prompted Wyoming\u2019s Democratic Party to institute two changes this year.\u00a0 First and most importantly, Wyoming\u2019s Democrats planned a shift from a pure caucus to a hybrid primary-caucus model.\u00a0 Both primaries and caucuses for initiating states\u2019 selection of national convention delegates have drawn criticism.\u00a0 Primary elections provide a larger window for participation as voters can cast ballots throughout the day or, in most states, in advance of election-day.\u00a0 Caucuses, on the other hand, require a greater time commitment and the ability to attend the event at a specific time and location; citizens with family or job obligations or with mobility difficulties are often unable to participate in the process.\u00a0 Additionally, caucus participants tend to be more ideological than primary voters and are less likely to support moderate candidates.\u00a0 For example, among 2016 presidential contenders, Sanders and Republicans Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio gained significantly larger voter shares in caucus states while Hillary Clinton and Republican John Kasich, viewed as the more moderate candidates within their parties, fared better in primary states.\u00a0 Wyoming\u2019s hybrid process, with voters registered as Democrats allowed to submit ballots in advance of or on caucus day to allow more of the party\u2019s registrants to be engaged. Suspension of the county caucuses alters this process but Democrats can continue submitting primary ballots through April 4 and presumably caucuses will be rescheduled at a later date for selecting convention delegates.\u00a0 Although imperfect this year, the experiment of the primary-caucus hybrid process should be instructive as other states consider reforming their delegate-selection systems in the future.<\/p>\n

A goal of rank-choice voting is allowing voters to remain loyal to preferred candidates and yet have a voice in the outcome if those candidates prove not to be competitive.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wyoming\u2019s second reform is instituting rank-choice or preferential voting for voters who cast primary ballots, where Democratic voters will have the option of ranking up to five candidates. (Three other states also are using this method.) \u00a0Frustration that their preferred candidate might not prevail sometimes prompts voters to cast ballots for alternative choices, opting for a less preferred but more viable candidate.\u00a0 A goal of rank-choice voting is allowing voters to remain loyal to preferred candidates and yet have a voice in the outcome if those candidates prove not to be competitive.\u00a0 Under Wyoming\u2019s 2020 rules, in each round of primary-vote tallying the candidate with the fewest votes among those not meeting the party\u2019s threshold of 15% for delegate consideration will be dropped and the next choice of that candidates\u2019 supporters counted in the next round.\u00a0 This is similar to the process of caucuses where participants whose candidate of choice fails to meet the 15% threshold for viability redistribute themselves among second-choice candidates.\u00a0 The difference is that Wyoming is combining the primary results with caucuses\u2019 rank-choice voting procedures in order to achieve broader voter participation.<\/p>\n

Logistical problems delayed the distribution of ballots until after the reduction of the party\u2019s field of candidates to simply Biden and Sanders.\u00a0 Thus Wyoming Democrats\u2019 experiment with rank-choice voting will not be implemented as planned this year (and might not have the desired effect in the future if the party continues holding its caucuses when the field of candidates typically is pared to two).\u00a0 Nonetheless, the twin experiments of the primary-caucus hybrid and rank-choice voting for identifying Democrats\u2019 preferences among candidates are valuable reforms to the nomination process that hopefully will create greater interest and participation in states that follow the first wave of caucuses and primaries.<\/p>\n

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James D. King is a guest contributor for the RAISE the Vote Campaign<\/a>. The views expressed in the posts and articles featured in the RAISE the Vote campaign are those of the authors and contributors alone and do not represent the views of APSA.<\/em><\/p>\n

James D. King is professor of political science in the School of Politics, Public Affairs, and International Studies at the University of Wyoming.\u00a0 Currently he is a Fulbright scholar at Flinders University in Australia, researching how elements of the Australian electoral system might be used to reform American elections procedures.<\/em><\/p>\n

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