The “Sore Loser” law is applied in the primaries

CHEYENNE, Wyoming (Wyoming News Now) – We saw it during the legislative session with the pricing of private land leases and now in the primary elections in our state.

People who know the rules and regulations but still want an exception for themselves and their cause.

In our last primary, Wyoming's “Sore Loser” law was brought up.

“We enforce the law. Our laws have to mean something. I think in a society that is sometimes lax in enforcing the law, that's one of the consequences. That's one of the reasons we work very hard to ensure consistent application and enforcement of election law. That's a very important part of our administration,” said Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray.

Wyoming’s Sore Loser Law, enacted in 1973, is part of our voting rights.

It states that a person who runs and loses in the primary cannot run as an independent in the general election and is designed to prevent people from taking advantage of the system.

Gray argues that this law must be applied consistently and exists for a good reason.

However, Matt Malcolm, Republican candidate for the 61st House District, considers this law unconstitutional and is requesting to be allowed to run in the general election after his defeat in the primary.

The request was denied and Malcolm is now suing the state.

Malcolm says he is questioning the right of independent voters to speak.

He says there are over 3,300 voters in his district, and only about 58 percent of them are Republican.

In his opinion, 42 percent of citizens are not able to belong to a political party and therefore do not enjoy the same rights guaranteed to them under the constitution.

“They don't belong to any political party, and they're not registered Democrats, so they had no vote at all in this election because there was no candidate on the ballot for them. And so this law ultimately serves to some extent to disenfranchise voters just because they don't belong to any political party,” said Matt Malcolm, a former candidate for the 61st House District.

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