In this section: Main: Why should I vote? Where do I vote? When do I vote? Who & What are on the ballot? How do I vote?

Main: Why should I vote?

A Wyoming voter casts a powerful vote in contested state and local elections. Due to small populations, each voter carries a larger share of the overall decision-making power in races for town, city, county and state offices, from the smallest conservation district board right on up to the Governor's Mansion.

Fifteen hundred votes can win a seat in the state House. Nearly a third of the last 15 gubernatorial elections were decided by 2,600 votes or less. The state House Speaker pro tem won his first general election by drawing lots from a hat after a tie vote. Countless other contests were swayed by only a few voters per precinct. Out here, every vote truly counts.

Also unlike voters in many other states, Wyoming voters make their election decisions every few years amidst far fewer of the saturation media buys and attack campaigns that leave citizens elsewhere too disillusioned or dispirited to muster the energy to participate

Yet voter participation in Wyoming still lags far behind its potential. In 2000, only 61 percent of Wyoming's voting-age population were registered to vote. But there was a positive sign as well. Partly due to growing use of absentee balloting and same-day registration, in 2000, for the first time, voter turnout exceeded the total number of registered voters.

So in the spirit of furthering that trend, Wyoming Conservation Voters offers this set of resources to help eligible voters of any and all political parties or philosophies to verify their voter registration status or familiarize themselves with election procedures and equipment, schedules, applicable laws and contact information for the state's three established political parties.