Top official applauds red state's historic legislation requiring proof of citizenship to vote: 'Huge winners'
EXCLUSIVE: Wyoming’s Republican secretary of state celebrated after the state became the first in the country to pass legislation requiring proof of citizenship in order to vote. He called it a "wonderful" development for election integrity during an interview with Fox News Digital.
"This bill requires proof of citizenship for registering to vote and also proof of residency for registering to vote, and it's a landmark bill that was the number one priority of our conservative election integrity reform agenda, which we brought to the 2025 general session and really is the first state in the nation to have an ironclad proof of citizenship requirement in state law," Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray told Fox News Digital.
"Because Wyoming has an exemption from the National Voter Registration Act, which means that we can apply that proof of citizenship requirement to all races, it also is pretty strong in that it doesn't have some carveout that the election judges' judgment can override the requirement, and it creates this requirement for proof of citizenship for registering to vote."
The measure, which mandates voters show one of nine different options proving citizenship and residency, will become law on July 1 after Wyoming’s Republican Gov. Mark Gordon allowed the bill to become his law without his signature last Friday.
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In a letter to Gray, Gordon said he could not sign the bill because of several concerns he documented, including possible legal issues, but conceded that it ultimately offers some "useful improvements" that he would allow to become law without his signature.
Gray told Fox News Digital he is confident the law will stand up to any legal challenges and called the development a "huge moment for election integrity for us to be the first state with really this ironclad proof of citizenship requirement."
"This is a huge priority of President Trump and we support President Trump 100%," Gray said. "The people of Wyoming are the huge winners here, and I think it will have a huge effect nationally in terms of bringing this through at the state level, and I'm very hopeful that it's also going to be brought through in the coming weeks on the floor of the House of Representatives in Washington."
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Gray told Fox News Digital, "It's in line with what President Trump is working on at the federal level with the SAVE Act, which hopefully is going to come to the floor of the Congress very soon, and to be the first state in the nation that has that ironclad proof of citizenship requirement. I think it's a wonderful moment for election integrity, for our state and for our nation, and hopefully helps in passage of the SAVE Act in the Congress, because this is a huge priority of the Trump administration."
Trump has been a vocal advocate of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which looks to ensure that noncitizens cannot vote in federal elections. Republican lawmakers recently renewed a push to move that bill through Congress.
On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order requiring people to provide proof of American citizenship when they register to vote and demanding that all ballots be reviewed by Election Day.
The order requires government-issued proof of U.S. citizenship on its voter registration forms, directs the attorney general to enter into information-sharing agreements with state election officials to identify cases of election fraud or other election law violations, and conditions federal election-related funds on states complying with the federal election integrity measures.
"There are other steps that we will be taking in the coming weeks," Trump said just before signing the order. "We think we'll be able to end up getting fair elections."
Fox News Digital's Louis Casiano contributed to this report