History of Initiative & Referendum in Wyoming

This article was significantly based on an article published by the Initiative & Referendum Institute and is used with their permission. Some portions of this article may have been adapted from Wikipedia, and information on the page may need to be updated.

Wyoming voters were granted the power of initiative and referendum in December 1968.

Through 2022, eight citizen initiatives had appeared on the statewide ballot in Wyoming: three in 1992, three in 1994, and two in 1996 (one of the 1996 measures was a veto referendum, the only in Wyoming's history.

Through 2022, the wording for 36 different initiatives had been filed with the Wyoming Secretary of State since 1970.

See also: List of Wyoming ballot measures.

Early advocates

Wyoming’s initiative and referendum pioneer was State Rep. L. C. Tidball of Sheridan. In the early 1890s, Tidball was one of the first state legislators in the nation - possibly the very first - to introduce a bill to amend a state constitution to provide for a statewide initiative and referendum process.

The Wyoming State Legislature waited 19 years before finally taking favorable action on an initiative and referendum bill in 1912, after all the surrounding states had already put such processes into their respective constitutions. It was favored by a six to one margin of the voters who cast ballots on its ratification. It still failed to take effect, however, because Wyoming constitutional amendments required ratification by a "supermajority" of all the voters casting ballots in the election, which made blank ballots count as "no" votes. By this standard, the amendment narrowly failed.

List of Wyoming initiatives

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result
VR	Term limits referendum	Term limits	Overturn Senate Enrolled Act 4	d
CISS	Term Limits Disclosure	Term limits	Candidates indicate on ballot whether they support term limits	d
CISS	Local Option Gambling	Gambling	Permit local option gambling	d
CISS	Invest In Wyoming	Admin of gov't	Investment of state funds	d
CISS	Abortion Restriction	Abortion	Some restrictions on abortion	d
CISS	Ban Triple Trailers	Transportation	Ban triple trailers on the state's roads	a
CISS	Term Limits	Term limits	Term limits on state and federal politicians	a
CISS	Railroad Regulation	Business regulation	New railway safety procedures	a

See also

• Wyoming ballot measures

External links

• Wyoming Elections Division, "Initiative & Referendum Summary Sheet," accessed February 25, 2015
• I&R Institute, "Statewide Initiative Usage for Wyoming," accessed February 25, 2015