Tempers are not cooling in Laramie County between some local Republicans and their county clerk.
The Wyoming Republican Party censured Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee on Saturday for the second time this year over the way she conducted voting machine testing in this year’s elections, accusing her of continuing “to cast a dark cloud over the integrity of Laramie County’s elections.”
The state and Laramie County Republican parties are upset with the way Lee tested voting machines for this year’s primary and general elections and how she handled information about these tests afterward.
The Wyoming GOP filed a lawsuit against Lee over the issue in August, which resulted in a settlement shortly after Lee agreed to comply with the state party’s demands for a new test. The state party argues that this lawsuit is still active because Lee has failed to comply with the terms of the settlement.
Quit, Now
The resolution passed by the GOP on Saturday asks for Lee’s resignation by Dec. 1. If she does not resign, the party plans to petition Gov. Mark Gordon to remove her.
Casper attorney Tim Stubson, who’s representing Lee in the lawsuit, said she has no plans to resign.
“She was elected by the people of Laramie County, not the Wyoming Republican Party Central Committee,” Stubson said.
The resolution passed unanimously at Saturday’s meeting.
Crook County GOP Precinct Committeeman Ted Davis initially expressed concern that this move would overstep the will of the Laramie County voters. Lee, who was first elected in 2016, easily won her reelection bid in 2022 by a large margin of the vote.
“As inappropriate as her (Lee) actions may be, I think the voters probably have to rescind her employment there,” Davis said. “For us to do that, to me, seems a bit presumptuous.”
Carbon County GOP Precinct Committeeman Joey Correnti disagreed, saying the resolution gives the state party a statutory process to handle Lee’s “crimes,” as no direct recall mechanism exists in Wyoming law. Lee will be up for reelection next in 2026 if she chooses to run again.
“What we’re doing here is saving our expectation (that she resign) and then engaging the law in following that,” he said.
Correnti successfully amended the censure resolution asserting Lee violated multiple sections of the state’s election code.
Stubson pointed out that both the primary and general elections were certified by the Wyoming State Canvassing Board with little discussion of the Laramie County tests at the primary certification and no discussion at the general certification last week. There were no calls made at either meeting to not certify the results of the election because of what happened in Laramie.
“This is more of a move to create controversy where none exists and fundraising,” he said.
Last month, the Natrona County Republican Party passed a resolution condemning the state party for “efforts to misinform the general public and/or pursue frivolous litigation against its county clerks alleging a problem that does not exist.”
The governor can only remove a county clerk if an official complaint is submitted with his office, which then allows him to have the Attorney General open an investigation against a county clerk. If the Attorney General finds there is sufficient evidence to remove the clerk from office, the attorney can file a petition in a district court to have this done. It’s up to the judge whether the clerk is removed or not.
Discontent
Laramie County GOP Chair Taft Love says Lee has still not turned over court-ordered data related to the lawsuit.
The Laramie County District Attorney’s office investigated this event and handed their investigation off to the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigations, Love said. Love claimed DCI is building a criminal case against Lee.
Stubson couldn’t confirm if an ongoing investigation exists but said the GOP has attempted to bring criminal charges against Lee.
Love also asserts that an invitation Lee sent the county party to attend the machine test for the general election was sent to the wrong email, which resulted in the party not knowing that testing was occurring on Oct. 4.
Other complaints made about Lee include giving voters a false sense of election security by primarily testing ballots that would not be used by the vast majority of Laramie County voters in the general election and not extensively testing ballots that were actually used by most voters in the general election. Wyoming GOP attorney Brian Schuck clarified that the ballots primarily tested were only used by a specific segment of absentee voters.
In its resolution, the state party also expresses doubt that enough space exists in the basement of the Laramie County Courthouse for Lee to have tested every machine there in a single day for the general election. A similar allegation was originally made about voting machine testing during the primary election.
A new complaint was also brought up against Lee and her election staff on Saturday. During the election, Laramie County staff opened up ballots mailed in by Wyoming residents in the military and or located overseas, which were then transcribed into electronic voting machines by elections staff.
“That’s a criminal act,” said former interim Secretary of State Karl Allred.
Stubson said that’s incorrect and that transcribing the votes into the voting machine in this manner is fully legal under Wyoming law. He said the reason this process occurs is because the ballots that are emailed out to Wyoming residents located overseas cannot be read by the electronic voting machines.
Stubson also pointed out that 2 to 3 election judges transcribed each ballot at a time and that representatives from both Republican and Democratic parties were on-hand to witness this event.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
