How does Wyoming select a presidential candidate without a statewide election?

Cy Neff, USA TODAY
·2 min read
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While Super Tuesday is getting all the attention, Wyoming Republicans are holding local county conventions until March 10 to select their favorite presidential candidates or delegates.

Over eleven days, state GOP officials will award the state’s 29 delegates heading to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this July. Unlike other presidential caucuses, the Cowboy State does not resemble other primaries or presidential contests held across the U.S. this year.

Like several other states, Wyoming doesn’t hold presidential primary elections where voters head to the polls or cast ballots by mail.

“It truly is more of a grassroots style than what you see in other states.” said former Wyoming interim secretary of state Karl Allred. “All the way, it’s driven from the bottom up.”

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Instead, both state parties use what’s known as a “caucus-convention” system. This byzantine process begins with local meetings in January. Then it moves to mid-level meetings across 23 country-level Republican party committees, which end with the state party convention in Cheyenne in mid-April.

“It’s people that are like-minded that come together, and discuss the issues of today. And they decide what statements they want to make about those issues,” said Sweetwater County Republican Party Chair Elizabeth Bingham.

The only presidential result to report from the Wyoming GOP’s caucus process is how many national convention delegates each presidential candidate has won.

There are no tables or graphics with raw vote totals or vote percentages, as there are for other presidential nominating contests. According to the Associated Press, the state party has held non-binding presidential straw polls or caucus votes in the past – Mitt Romney won the vote in 2012, receiving 39% of just over 2,100 votes cast – but it had no impact on delegates.

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The county conventions will award 23 of the state’s 29 national convention delegates. The remaining six delegates will be awarded at the state party convention in April.

With Wire Services

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Wyoming's primary is actually an unusual presidential caucus