Committee sponsors ‘noncitizen’ label on Wyoming state-issued Identification cards

CHEYENNE — The Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Committee voted November 15 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.

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