%20(1).png)
When Rebekah Fitzgerald talks about Wyoming, she sounds like someone describing family. She was born there, raised there, and is now raising her own family there. “Wyoming’s way of life — independence, community, taking care of your neighbor — it’s in my DNA,” she says. “But lately, I’ve been worried about what we’re losing.”
That worry crystallized during recent elections, when rule changes — and the push to close primaries — left even highly educated voters uncertain about how to participate. “My husband’s in the medical field,” Rebekah says. “He asked me probably 12 to 15 times leading up to the election… ‘Do I have everything? I don’t want to go if I don’t have everything. Are you sure we’re going to be able to vote?’ We like to think confusion isn’t voter suppression, but when people are nervous about voting because they know there’s been a change — but they’re not quite sure what — it’s a problem.”
At the same time, the state’s political climate was shifting. Outside groups were pouring money into Wyoming’s primaries, promoting partisan purity tests and punishing pragmatism. As efforts to close the state’s primaries gained traction, Rebekah saw what it would mean: a system where a small, ideologically narrow group of voters would decide elections for everyone else.
“When only a quarter of voters participate in a primary — and that’s where the real decisions are made — that’s not democracy,” she says. “That’s control.”
Rebekah didn’t want to watch from the sidelines. After years working in communications and public affairs, a group of Wyoming leaders launched Wyoming FREE — short for Fair, Reliable, Ethical Elections — to defend what she calls “the freedom to choose your representatives.”
“Wyoming FREE is about one thing: freedom,” she explains. “Freedom to have your voice heard in every election, not just the ones the politicians pick for you.”
At a time when national headlines stoke fear about election integrity, Rebekah’s message cuts through the noise. “We don’t have an election integrity problem in Wyoming,” she says. “We have a participation problem. When it’s harder to vote, people don’t vote — and when people don’t vote, extremists win.”
The group focuses on making participation straightforward — explaining the rules and encouraging turnout in primaries, where most races are effectively decided. “In Wyoming, over 80 percent of races are decided in the primary,” Rebekah notes. “If you want a say in the determinative election, you have to pick a major party and participate — or you have no say.”
For Rebekah, the issue isn’t abstract — it’s deeply personal. She’s watched friends and neighbors who identify as independent realize they can’t meaningfully participate in the elections that matter most. “Closed primaries aren’t just about keeping some voters out,” she says. “They tilt the balance toward those already in control.”
Since Wyoming’s Republican primary moved from a semi-open primary and closed to unaffiliated voters in 2023, turnout has dropped and the legislative balance has tilted toward the extremes. “When the primary closes, reasonable voices get pushed out,” Rebekah explains. “The unaffiliated voters — the ones in the middle — are shut out, and that gives oxygen to the most extreme candidates.”
She’s blunt about the incentive shift: once the primary electorate narrows, leaders stop appealing to the broad middle. “You don’t have to play to the middle where most constituents are — there’s no reason to,” she says. “They get into power, push through big bills, and then campaign on those. It’s a closed loop.”
The ripple effects touch everyday life. She points to education and energy decisions that moved with unusual speed after the shift. “We’re talking about sixty-plus years of education policy thrown out in one session,” she notes, adding that fear-based politics can even derail major job-creating projects. “Normal people don’t want to participate with pitchforks. They’ll just stay home.”
Rebekah keeps returning to the same point: when the rules get more complicated — shorter absentee windows, tighter ID lists, earlier party declarations — people pull back, including older voters who may lack the required documents. “You end up eroding your own base because they’re not going to be able to participate,” she says.
Her throughline is simple: elections should reflect the whole community. She asks readers to imagine the promise of common-sense rules and responsive leaders. “Close your eyes and imagine you feel like your voice is heard — your legislator is bringing your town’s issues to the state capitol,” she says. “Open primaries allow you to vote for whoever you believe will represent your views.”
Through community presentations and local media outreach, Rebekah and her team are helping Wyomingites understand how structural reforms like open primaries can bring accountability back to government. “We’re not trying to change Wyoming’s values,” she says. “We’re trying to make sure Wyoming’s values are actually represented.”
Rebekah calls this moment a turning point for her state — a wake-up call for citizens who care about freedom and fairness. “If we don’t protect everyone’s right to choose their representatives,” she says, “we’ll lose the Wyoming we love.”
She’s not cynical; she’s urgent. “People want to do the right thing. They want their neighbors to feel heard,” she says. “Give them the facts — and a reason to show up.”
That’s what motivates her: the belief that most Wyomingites, regardless of party, want a system that works for everyone. “Freedom means choice,” she says. “And that starts with the freedom to vote for the person, not the party.”
##
Rebekah Fitzgerald is a lifelong Wyoming resident and communications professional working to ensure that every voter in Wyoming has a voice in the electoral process. Working with Wyoming FREE (Fair, Reliable, Ethical Elections), she leads efforts to keep Wyoming’s elections open and accessible to all voters—regardless of party affiliation.
Stay up-to-date on the latest news and resources from Unite America.
%20(1).png)
.png)