I wanna get ahead of this before someone tries to make clickbait out of it.

In Jan., Wyoming had 209,231 registered Republicans. In Feb., that number fell to 203,961.

Is Wyoming experiencing the same GOP exodus other states saw after Jan. 6? Probably not.

Let me explain...

If you look at the January numbers, yes, GOP registration was substantially higher than it was at the start of this month.

Here's Jan: https://sos.wyo.gov/Elections/Docs/VRStats/2021/21JanVR_Stats.pdf

Here's Feb: https://sos.wyo.gov/Elections/Docs/VRStats/2021/21FebVR_stats.pdf

But if you look at all of the parties, you'll notice registration fell for everyone.

Dems: 51,227 -> 49,336 (-3.7%)
Ind: 38,796 -> 37,294 (-3.9%)
Lib: 2,891 -> 2,729 (-5.6%)

The decline for the GOP? A meager 2.5%.

Why is this? Well...

Per W.S. 22-2-113(e), clerks "shall purge and update voter registration information on the voter registration system not later than the fifteenth day of February each year and shall notify the secretary of state upon completion, but not later than February 15 of each year.”

Feb. 15 is the DEADLINE, however. I reached out to the Secretary of State's Office earlier and, as of today, 12 counties have already purged their rolls.

While they couldn't tell me how many had done so as of Feb. 1, it's probably safe to conclude the decline was due to purge.

Plus, it's easy to re-register. From @EdBuchananWyo:

"Maintaining a current and updated registered voter list is a best practice in elections management. And, if someone is purged because they chose not to vote in a past election, the process to re-register is simple and easy."

Why did I write this thread? To show you how much work goes into checking the significance of numbers like these and why context matters when reporting on stats like these.

Anyway, hope y'all learned something. I did!