September 1, 2022 |
The Carbon County Clerk’s Office completed entering the voter registration changes ahead of this year’s Primary Election.
In all, 335 Democrats switched to the Republican Party between January 1, 2022, through Election Day. Most of the party crossing occurred on the day of the Primary Election when 157 Democrats crossed lines to vote Republican. Another 67 changed from Democrat to Republican after absentee voting opened on July 1st. Some may have voted absentee while others changed their party affiliation and then voted at the polls, the clerk’s office notes in its report.
By contrast, only nine Republicans crossed party lines to vote in the Democratic Primary in Carbon County, according to the report emailed to Bigfoot 99 on Wednesday.
Other party switching of interest included voters registered as Unaffiliated, Constitution or Libertarian. Among this group, 280 switched to Republican and a dozen moved their registration to Democrat. Six Democrats switched to unaffiliated or third-party candidates while 12 Republicans followed that route.
The clerk’s office counted the party switches starting on January 1st, the date that voters can begin requesting absentee ballots for any election year.
While it is unclear if the switches made a difference in any local, county-wide races where party affiliation plays a role, party-crossing made no difference in the top of the card race for U.S. House. Incumbent Liz Cheney had urged Democrats to switch parties and vote for her ahead of losing in a landslide statewide. In Carbon County, Cheney received 819 votes to Harriet Hageman’s 2,852.
The Carbon County Clerk’s office posted the names of the candidates who will appear on the General Election ballots in November. Click here to view the list.
