Only Lincoln County Backs Wyoming Property Tax Halving After Statewide Rejection
The measure passed only in Lincoln County, while Niobrara County delivered the state's strongest rejection.
By Javier Sanders ·
A Wyoming ballot initiative to cut residential property taxes by half for qualifying home structures failed in 22 of the state's 23 counties on Tuesday. The measure received an average approval rating of 41.75% statewide, falling short of the 50% threshold required for passage under state constitutional rules.
Lincoln County was the only jurisdiction where the proposition won a majority of votes cast. In that county, 56.79% of voters approved the measure while 39.75% voted against it. When undervotes and overvotes are included, which count as rejections, Lincoln County’s total rejection share stood at 43.2%. Park County came closest to passing the measure, with 49.3% approval and 46.5% opposition, but technically rejected the proposal by a margin of 50.69% when all ballots were accounted for.
Statewide, unofficial results showed 111,657 votes against the proposal and 80,031 in favor. Because undervotes and overvotes are counted as nays, 58.2% of voters technically rejected Prop. 1. The petition sought to amend state law to add a 50% tax cut to existing exemptions, such as a 25% reduction on the first $1 million of home value and a 50% exemption for homeowners over 65.
Niobrara County, which has only eight registered Democrats and a 92.3% Republican registration rate, delivered the largest rejection margin. Voters there opposed the measure 70.5% to 29.5%. Excluding undervotes and overvotes, the split was 63.9% against and 29.5% for. Niobrara also gave Donald Trump a higher vote share in 2024 than any other Wyoming county, at 90.8%.
Hot Springs County rejected the measure more decisively than any other county when excluding undervotes and overvotes, with 64.1% voting against it and 31.7% in favor. This county is also a Republican stronghold, with 84% of voters registered as GOP and 81% supporting Trump in the 2024 election. Campbell County showed the most favor among rejecting counties, opposing the measure by a five-point margin of 52.5% to 47.5%.
Teton County, the state’s only blue county, voted 36% in favor and 64% against the measure. Although approximately 25% of the projected financial benefit from Prop. 1 was slated for Teton County residents, the county rejected the initiative with the fifth-largest split. Albany County, a purple-leaning jurisdiction, also rejected the measure with a substantial margin.
