Sheridan resident James Temple came into work last Tuesday expecting a relatively normal day. It had been exactly one week since the completion of this year’s elections, an event Temple saw as “very successful” in his county.
Sheridan County Clerk Eda Schunk Thompson ended up firing him first thing that day without giving any explanation why, Temple said. Temple said he was told by the clerk “it’s not working out, we’re going to have to let you go,”
“I had no clue it was coming,” Temple said.
Schunk Thompson did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Cowboy State Daily. State government officials also generally don’t disclose personnel information publicly in Wyoming.
Wyoming is an “at-will” state, meaning employers have the right to terminate employees for legal reasons as long as they do not violate employment contracts or anti-discrimination laws.
Schunk Thompson hired Temple in April 2023 for the Election Supervisor role. She appeared enthusiastic about his hiring at the time, telling the Sheridan Press she was “really impressed” with his experience.
Although Temple told Cowboy State Daily in a phone interview last week there were certain things he and Schunk Thompson didn’t see eye-to-eye on, he saw no glaring issues in their professional relationship.
Secretary of State Chuck Gray told Cowboy State Daily that Temple was "one of the local election officials who was most responsive to working with our office on election integrity."
Disagreement Over Drop Boxes
One issue Temple said he and Schunk Thompson didn’t agree about was the use of drop-box ballot boxes, which he claimed she does not see as “a security threat” to elections.
Ballot drop boxes are boxes located outside county courthouses that provide voters the opportunity to drop off their ballots 24/7 without having to enter the building. They are almost always under constant video surveillance.
The topic of ballot drop boxes has been a controversial one in Wyoming and throughout America, with many people levying accusations they served as a breeding ground for fraud and ballot harvesting.
This summer, Gray rescinded a 2020 directive issued by former Secretary of State Ed Buchanan, which explicitly allowed the use of drop boxes in Wyoming elections. A total of eight Wyoming counties still offered drop boxes this election season after Gray issued his directive.
Schunk Thompson had already decided Sheridan would not provide a drop box this election season before the directive was issued.
The County Clerks’ Association of Wyoming disagreed with Gray in his directive, responding in a letter that it's within each clerk's discretion to determine if drop boxes are legal and a right fit for their election. This was one of a number issues that the clerks and Gray have disagreed about
After Gray sent his letter, Temple said he responded to him by email and thanked him for his stance on the issue. Temple told Gray that Sheridan County had already decided to get rid of its drop box, based on a policy Temple had written, sharing the same concerns as Gray.
“Drop boxes are a risk to election integrity, and I simply removed it from the equation,” Temple said.
Temple said he then was told by Schunk Thompson he needed to recant his statement to Gray because she did not agree with it, and that by expressing support for Gray, it was going to cause problems for the County Clerks’ Association.
“They were under the impression that Secretary Gray would use my response to support his stance on drop boxes,” Temple said.
Temple said there are more details about this exchange that he “will not discuss at this time.”
Gray told Cowboy State Daily on Monday he’s saddened by Temple’s firing and considered him a “key ally in our work for election integrity.” He also opposes “any type of cancel culture where disagreement is met with censorship and intimidation.”
“I’m particularly concerned that it appears James was censored and punished for agreeing with our office’s election integrity positions,” Gray said.
Despite using their dropbox for the 2020 and 2022 elections and for the submission of other documents related to county business, Sheridan County opted to not use its box for this year’s elections. The box was removed the day before early and absentee voting started for the primary and general elections and was not replaced until after Election Day.
Schunk Thompson told the Sheridan Press in June the county made this decision because of ambiguity in Wyoming law about whether ballot drop boxes are legal or not.
“There are many different opinions of how that statute should be interpreted. In visiting with my county attorney, I became very comfortable with the fact that, until the legislature clarifies that interpretation, I would rather not deal with all the issues that come out of that,” Schunk Thompson said, according to the Press.
Sheridan Democrat Martha Wright, who unsuccessfully ran for House District 29 this year and is the former chair of her county party, said she was disappointed by Temple’s firing even though she herself supported the use of drop boxes in her county.
“That’s very disappointing because I thought James Temple brought a lot to the office,” she said. “He was efficient and was an asset to the office. I can’t imagine what caused that.”
Election Security
Temple lived in a number of different states before moving to Wyoming in 2019. He believes Wyoming has the most secure elections in the nation.
“Having said this, I believe that we must be ever vigilant to maintain our election integrity against bad actors. It is an evolving process in a rapidly changing world,” he said.
While elections supervisor, Temple said he also wrote a policy to prevent the use of digital driver's licenses and identification cards from being used as a valid form of identification for registering to vote and voting. He said this policy was so well received it was also adopted as the policy for doing business in the county clerk's office. Now, only a hard copy of identification is accepted as a proof of identity in the office.
