Gillette resident Dale Janota wants the petition for a Wyoming property tax initiative that was submitted May 31 to the state Elections Office with more than 44,000 signatures thrown out by Secretary of State Chuck Gray because of where the group’s organizers collected signatures.
In a complaint to Gray and his office, Janota said the group collected signatures at his local post office and county courthouse, places he asserts are banned for collecting signatures under federal law.
The initiative, if certified and approved by voters in 2026, would allow full-time homeowners in Wyoming to have their property taxed at 50% of its assessed value.
Cheryl Aguiar, a lead organizer with Wyoming Voter Initiatives, a group running the ballot initiative effort, confirmed that her group collected signatures at post offices and county courthouses, as Janota claims. Aguiar said she expects more complaints like Janota’s to block the initiative.
What Does The Law Say?
Janota is correct that federal law prohibits the collecting of signatures on petitions, polls or surveys on U.S. Postal Service property. However, Aguiar claims different rules apply when the property is owned privately, which doesn’t apply here because the Gillette Post Office property is owned by the U.S. Postal Service, according to Campbell County Assessor’s Office.
When it comes to collecting signatures at government buildings such as at county courthouses, the law is much more hazy. Ultimately, it’s the decision of each entity in charge of a courthouse if it wants to allow this activity.
Aguiar said her group’s volunteers received prior permission from staff to collect signatures at all the post offices and government buildings they worked at around the state, receiving denials at the post offices in Rock Springs and Casper.
She said her group didn’t go to courthouses in most counties, but did have a volunteer also collect signatures at a courthouse in Uinta County with permission.
The bulk of the Gillette signatures, Aguiar said, were collected at local businesses. Her group did not keep track of the location where each of the roughly 44,500 signatures were collected.
Any lawsuit filed on the matter would likely fail in court because Wyoming state law doesn’t directly address where signatures for ballot initiatives can and can’t be gathered; however, an argument could be made that it does do so indirectly.
This is in the act of electioneering communication, which means any communication that, “Can only be reasonably interpreted as an appeal to vote for or against” a candidate or ballot proposition, activities which cannot take place too close to a polling place or absentee polling place, according to state statute.
However, an important caveat to this law exists in that it only applies within 30 days of a primary election or 60 days of a general election, neither of which are windows the collecting of signatures took place for the initiative.
It is for this reason, and specifically the lack of state law on the matter, that Secretary of State Gray believes Janota’s complaint is baseless.
“There is nothing in Wyoming law that prohibits petition circulators from soliciting signatures outside of a post office,” Gray told Cowboy State Daily. “It is troubling to see these reckless allegations in an effort to disrupt and intimidate an initiative addressing the very real and important issue of property tax relief.”
Gray has consistently advocated for property tax reform and expressed admiration for the property tax initiative, which he called “a true grassroots effort” when submitted in May.
Janota said he received no response from Gray’s office on his complaint submitted last week, which aligns with his suspicion that Gray wants to sweep his complaint under the table.
“I do not believe that is right. They violated the law,” Janota said.
Bias Admitted
Janota fully acknowledges he’s against the property tax initiative on a personal level.
“We don’t need to kill something when everything is working so well,” Janota said. “Now we’ve got somebody thinking today how to destroy tomorrow.”
Janota, a Republican and an economist by trade, believes if property taxes are reduced in Wyoming all it will do is increase home insurance rates to cancel out any tax savings. If the state cuts its property tax rates, Janota argues that insurance companies will take advantage.
“Why not give it to the state rather than the insurance company?” Janota asked. “If you don’t pay the tax but you pay the insurance company, you end up worse than you were before because you lost a lot of services plus you destroyed communities.”
Janota said Wyoming’s relatively low property tax rates are already driving people to the state and increasing home values. He mentioned how his home insurance rate went up more than his property taxes last year, which increased by more than 50%.
“The benefits of the tax exceeds the value of the benefits given to the insurance companies,” he said.
The only tax reductions he supports are on the purchase of motor vehicles.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
