Questions about the integrity of Wyoming’s voting machines grew a little more pointed this week after observers say a Monday test of Laramie County equipment was suspect.
Laramie County Republican Party Chairman Taft Love on Tuesday filed an official complaint with Laramie County District Attorney Sylvia Hackl targeting Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee about the voting machine test she performed Monday.
Love and others believe the test produced untrustworthy results.
The complaint was also sent on to Wyoming Attorney General Bridget Hill, Secretary of State Chuck Gray and Laramie County Attorney Mark Voss.
Love asserts that the public test performed Monday did not follow state law because the tabulation machines did not use a different number of valid votes for each candidate.
He believes the results show that there is not enough evidence to trust the county’s ES&S voting equipment for the upcoming primary election Aug. 20.
“I do not believe the testing of the voting systems comports with applicable statute, thus jeopardizing the integrity of our election,” Love writes in his complaint letter.
Lee told Cowboy State Daily she couldn’t comment on the matter because of “pending litigation.”
“There’s no way to tell if the machines are working or not,” he said. “The errors indicate they’re not.”
What Happened?
On Monday, Love, Laramie County Democratic Party Chair Jordan Evans and others were invited to watch a public test of their election equipment, which is required in every Wyoming county for each election under state law.
The test includes processing a pre-audited group of paper ballots or ballot cards with a predetermined number of valid votes for each candidate and ballot measure. It also has ballots that aren’t done correctly to test the ability of the automatic tabulating machines to reject the improper votes.
As the Monday test was conducted, Love said he observed that the paper ballots used to test the machines had the same number of votes for each candidate.
Wyoming Statute 22-11-104 says during these tests, a different number of valid votes shall be assigned to each candidate for an office, and for and against each measure, he said. In the first test, most of the candidates were given the same number of votes, which did not change for the second test.
Laramie County GOP Committeeman Dallas Tyrrell also said there were discrepancies between the first and second tests.
Under the law, any error detected shall be documented and corrected, and an errorless count shall be secured and certified to by the county clerk.
Tyrrell said this never happened.
“After a fair election, we want to make sure every vote counts without any discrepancy,” he said.
Love and Tyrrell said there were also other issues with machines crumpling ballots and identifying errors with their counts while still counting the same number of ballots as the other machines.
Tyrrell said he was also bothered by what he saw as a lack of serious concern from Lee about the performance of the machines.
“She was acting very nonchalant, very dismissive of the questions being asked,” he said.
That night, the Laramie County GOP convened an executive session to determine what it should do next. It planned to file a complaint about the matter, but waited to see if Lee would announce a time for a new test before doing so.
State law requires that all election tests be performed at least two weeks prior to an election, a deadline that hit Tuesday.
After being told by Lee that she would try to reach back to him about the issue in a week or two after she talked with ES&S staff and got new ballots, Love decided to pull the trigger on their complaint.
Their main request is that a new test be performed by Election Day.
“This does not negate Debra Lee’s ability to hold a valid and accurate test,” Love said.
Complaints about fraudulent election machines were often raised by Republicans after former President Donald Trump questioned the results of the 2020 election. These complaints significantly reduced after the 2022 election.
What It Means
Love and Tyrrell said if an effective test can’t be performed before the Aug. 20 primary, ballots should be hand counted in Laramie County.
“A hand count can be really cumbersome, but it might be the most accurate way we have to come up with the results,” Love said.
On Tuesday, the Wyoming Republican Party put out a notice about the issue, soliciting its members to donate $20,000 in the next 24 hours to pay for legal assistance in filing a court injunction against Lee. The purpose of this injunction, the party states, would be to “request appropriate relief, including a hand count of ballots!”
“We’re looking at all legal options,” Tyrrell said. “We don’t know what outcome that could be.”
Love said although a misdemeanor criminal charge could be filed against Lee, it’s not his desire to take this approach.
“Our concern is not going after Debra Lee,” Love said. “We want an accurate election to make sure every vote is counted.”
The party also requests its members to verify with their county clerks that their voting machines are properly tested and certified.
Secretary of State Chuck Gray also sent a letter to Lee on Wednesday requesting that she perform a new test.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
