The opaque black boxes that scan, interpret, and count our ballots are just tools. They are not deities that can do no wrong. Computers can take a human error and multiply it in the blink of an eye. Thankfully, Wyoming’s secretary of state, Chuck Gray, understands this.
As unofficial results from across Wyoming came to his office, Gray didn’t just pop a cork and rubber-stamp the results. Rather, using human eyes and common sense, he noticed something peculiar in a tiny precinct that was part of Chip Neiman’s (R-Huelett) uncontested race.
Weston County, precinct 2-1, cast only 164 ballots. But in the race for House District 1, the ES&S voting machine reported that 162 voters left the race blank. Further scrutiny found that three other precincts (1-2, 3-1, and 4-1) reported strangely high numbers of undervotes. In all of Weston County, Neiman had received only 166 votes while 1,289 voters supposedly marked nothing.
Immediately Gray dialed the Weston County Clerk. When it rang without answer, he sent the county sheriff to her home. He also contacted the County Clerks’ Association of Wyoming and the Attorney General’s Office.
Others noticed the problem, as well. A friend from Buffalo called Neiman, and a reporter from Newcastle contacted Becky Hadlock, the Weston County Clerk.
Hadlock told the reporter, Walter Sprague, that "the significant number of undervotes were the result of a ‘protest’ vote…”
She was claiming that voters were upset with Neiman and refused to register a vote for that reason.
Then Dan Fouch stepped forward. He voted in Osage (precinct 2-1). He testified that he, personally, knew of more who voted for Neiman than the machine tally reported.
Finally, Hadlock “admitted later in the afternoon [Nov. 6] that the issue was under investigation by ES&S (Election Systems & Software).” Even then, she assured Cowboy State Daily of her confidence that “the HD 1 race was the only one with an error…”
She was wrong about that, too.
Secretary Gray released a statement explaining: “The county clerk used incorrect ballots during the election.” These incorrect ballots caused all four machines—that were programmed for a different ballot—to misread the marks that Weston County voters had clearly and correctly made. Likely hundreds of voters were disenfranchised.
And the error did not only affect one race. It also caused the machines to misread down-ballot votes for county commissioner. Had Gray not insisted on accuracy—even when it didn’t affect the outcome—the down-ballot miscounts might still be undetected.
The implications of these events are enormous. Don’t let the small numbers fool you.
Here are just a few of the lessons learned:
First, the Secretary of State, with human eyes and common sense, caught the disenfranchisement of hundreds of Wyoming voters.
It was not caught by ES&S, or by the Weston County Clerk, or by the County Clerk’s Association of Wyoming.
In fact, it wasn’t even caught by the “Post-election audit” required by Wyoming Statute 22-11-109. Indeed, it could not have been caught since that audit never tests actual ballots cast by actual voters. It only tests “a pre-audited group of test ballots.”
Second, it was a fluke that it was caught at all. If the percentage of erroneous undervotes had been less than the 75% to 99% that happened in Neiman’s race, it is most likely that nobody would have noticed.
Third, even such a high statistical anomaly as 99% can be treated dismissively by election officials. Don’t forget that Hadlock deemed four different precincts (1-2, 2-1, 3-1, and 4-1), reporting undervotes of 89.8%, 90.0, 98.8% and 75.4% respectively, as the result of a supposed “protest” against the man who will likely be the next Speaker of the House.
Fourth, only the combination of a tiny number of votes (2) and voters willing to publicly testify to their votes for Neiman provided the incontrovertible evidence of machine miscounting. Only a few dozen more votes would have made even this impossible. We should learn that smaller is better when it comes to detecting voting errors.
Fifth, anyone who thought Secretary Gray’s scrupulous investigation was unnecessary since it would not affect the outcome of HD 1 doesn’t understand election integrity. In fact, Gray’s doggedly scrupulous investigation revealed that another race was affected. Those county commissioner candidates would have been defrauded of votes without ever learning otherwise.
To be certain that this chain of errors is rectified, Gray’s office is “insisting that the county canvassing board undertake a review of the ballots to determine accurate counts prior to certification of official results to our office.”
Bravo to our Secretary Gray! After this episode is resolved, let’s urge our legislature to remove from county election boards the shackles that keep them from spot-checking vote tallies as a matter of course. We could even call it: “Chip Neiman’s Law.”
Update: On Friday, November 8, the Weston County Canvassing Board conducted a hand recount of both affected races. The Official Results found that Neiman actually received 1,268 votes, and that there were only 166 undervotes. The county commissioners race found different vote totals for both candidates, as well.
Jonathan Lange is a Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod pastor in Evanston and Kemmerer and serves the Wyoming Pastors Network. Follow his blog at https://jonathanlange.substack.com/. Email: JLange64@protonmail.com.
