This bill establishes new offenses related to election intimidation in Wyoming, creating both a misdemeanor offense of "election intimidation" and a felony offense of "aggravated election intimidation." The misdemeanor offense, defined in W.S. 22-26-122, involves inducing fear in election officials or voters through verbal threats of violence or economic retaliation, with the intent to obstruct the electoral process. The felony offense, detailed in W.S. 22-26-111, similarly involves inducing fear but requires a higher threshold of intimidation, including the solicitation of contributions through threats of physical violence.

Additionally, the bill amends existing statutes to incorporate these new offenses, specifically replacing references to previous provisions with the new section on election intimidation. Notably, the bill repeals a provision that stated it was not a defense if the defendant lacked the ability to carry out the threat, as the new language requires actual physical force or the execution of a threat to meet the criteria for aggravated election intimidation. The act is set to take effect on July 1, 2024.

Statutes affected:
24LSO-0233 v0.5: 22-17-101, 22-26-101, 22-26-111, 22-26-112