Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee said she believes the Wyoming Republican Party is attempting to “disrupt” the upcoming primary election ahead of Election Day.
Last week, the Wyoming Republican Party filed a lawsuit against Lee for what they claim was an illegitimate test of election tabulators.
On Friday, Lee responded to the complaint filed in Laramie County District Court by the Wyoming Republican Party, which alleges that the voting test she and her staff performed last week was not lawful.
Also signing onto the complaint are state Reps. Ben Hornok, R-Cheyenne; Clarence Styvar, Laramie County GOP chairman and state House candidate Taft Love; Laramie County GOP Committeeman Dallas Tyrrell; and Laramie County Commission candidate Kathy Scigliano.
The lawsuit, which accuses Lee of undermining a free and fair election, requests an official determination that the machines were not properly tested and for an injunction forcing Lee to hand-count all ballots in the Aug. 20 primary election.
“Wyoming law mandates accurate testing of electronic voting systems,” the Wyoming GOP says in a Facebook post. “Ignoring these safeguards is unacceptable. That's why the Wyoming Republican Party, alongside Laramie County candidates, filed a lawsuit to ensure election integrity.”
In her statement, Lee called the complaint an effort to “disrupt our current primary election and force my office to provide alternative means for counting ballots.”
She said her staff is in “close communication” with election equipment vendor ES&S to address concerns about testing methodology.
“No errors occurred during the certified test conducted, and none of the complaints allege an error has occurred,” Lee said. “The county maintains full confidence in the accuracy and operation of all our voting equipment and will respond fully to all complaints and litigation filed.”
The Laramie County Republican Party had already filed a complaint with the Laramie County District Attorney about the voting machine test, which was followed by the state party’s lawsuit.
Love told Cowboy State Daily on Monday that disrupting an election is the exact opposite of what he and the others challenging the test are trying to do.
“This was absolutely not an attempt to interfere,” he said. “It’s an attempt to make sure we have a fair and balanced election in Wyoming and Laramie County.”
What Happened?
The dispute centers around the mandatory test each county clerk is required to perform before an election.
At the Laramie County test, controversy arose most significantly over the fact that many of the candidates were given the exact same number of votes for the machines to count. 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.
The lawsuit claims that although Lee acknowledged this discrepancy, she did nothing to correct it.
Love said Lee had claimed this happened as a result of the test deck supplied by voting machine company ES&S, which is the vendor for all of Wyoming’s voting machines.
Still, Lee contends in her statement that the machines experienced no errors during the certified test and that the complainants are not alleging any errors occurred.
Love said this isn’t true and he considered the test itself was performed in error and as a result the machines can’t be certified as required by law.
“The test was run with the exact same number of votes. There’s no way to tell if it’s counting them accurately,” he said.
There’s no proof that the machines didn’t correctly count the number of ballots it had fed into them, countered Laramie County Democratic Party Chairman Jordan Evans.
“It counted the votes it was supposed to count correctly,” he said. “That’s what they’re supposed to do.”
Evans believes that although an error may have occurred in the test material, it doesn’t mean the machines can’t be trusted and certified.
“If the test is not done according to statute, it’s not indicative of the machines being broken,” he said.
Evans, like Love, is running for the state House, but doesn’t share the same concerns about election integrity because of the test.
“If Taft wins (his election), I’m curious if he’ll still be concerned,” Evans said. “I’m likely to lose my election and I have no concerns.”
What’s Next?
On Monday, the Wyoming GOP put out an email claiming that five other counties had errors similar to Laramie’s in their tests. They also listed six county clerks who they claim are refusing to provide their test results.
“Are they trying to hide something? If so, what are they trying to hide?” the party questions.
Secretary of State Chuck Gray sent a letter to the county clerks on Monday as well, saying that any county that performed their test like Laramie did needs to redo it to conform with state law.
“This requirement is not just a formality,” Gray said. “It is crucial to ensuring that the electronic voting machines are accurately counting and tabulating the votes for each candidate when the actual ballots are tabulated on election night. Assigning the same number of votes for two or more candidates in the same race is plainly contrary to that statute.”
At 2 p.m. Tuesday, Lee will host another test of her county’s election equipment, but it will already be past the deadline for machines to be certified under state law.
Love said if this test goes correctly, it will alleviate his concerns about the machines being able count the ballots accurately for the Aug. 20 primary election, but he couldn’t say if this would lead to the state party dropping its lawsuit.
He did admit that conducting a hand count has its own shortcomings with the element of human error playing a possible factor.
“I’m hoping tomorrow’s test goes as it’s supposed to,” he said.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
