A new lawsuit was filed against the Wyoming Republican Party on Monday, this time by one of its own county parties.
The lawsuit filed by the new leadership of the Hot Springs County Party seeks a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief against the state party for refusing to recognize its election wins.
“Plaintiffs file this complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief because, if the Wyoming Republican Party is allowed to overturn local county party elections through secret tribunals, it will have become a self-perpetuating, Soviet-style politburo rather (than) a functioning political party in a representative democracy,” the filing reads.
The new leadership of the county party, Chairman Joe Martinez, State Committeeman Phillip Scheel, Secretary Meri Ann Dorman and Vice Chair Clay Van Antwerp filed the lawsuit. Representing the parties in the lawsuit is former state legislator Clark Stith of Rock Springs.
The complaint was filed in Laramie County District, the county where the state party’s headquarters is based.
After the Hot Springs election took place last month and the meeting was adjourned, two additional voters cast “provisional ballots” to be potentially counted at a later time. In public elections, provisional ballots are cast when there are questions about a voter’s eligibility. They are still counted if a voter is deemed eligible.
The sticky wicket is that these ballots were cast by county officers who are not elected precinct committeemen or women. If counted, those votes will change the results for chairman and state committeeman, races that originally ended in a 7-7 tie and had to be decided by casting lots.
Only a county party’s chair and two committee members get to vote at state meetings.
Former Hot Springs County GOP Chair Cheryl Aguiar, who supports the counting of the provisional ballots, told Cowboy State Daily “if they want to spend their money suing over voluntary positions, they can have it.”
“They agree with the process, they just don’t agree with the results,” she said.
What Does The Law Say?
As decided in the 2023 lawsuit Conrad v. Uinta County Republican Party, unelected party members cannot vote in county party leadership elections. A number of other county parties around the state conducted their elections with respect to that ruling, but Hot Springs was the only local party to have its final results affected by it.
Still, those on the losing side of the Hot Springs election filed a complaint with the state party, asking for their provisional votes to be counted. Their position followed the advice of party attorney Brian Shuck, who argued that the state law can be ignored because he finds it to be unconstitutional and that unelected officers can cast votes in elections. The state party’s bylaws conflict with the state law on this point and do allow for these people to vote in elections.
The plaintiffs argue that even if these votes were supposed to be counted, they weren’t cast during the election but rather after voting had completed, nor were they secret.
Aguiar said the only reason these ballots weren’t secret was because the new leadership took photos of them with their phones.
On April 8, the state party’s dispute resolution committee conducted a private meeting at which the Hot Springs leaders said they were not allowed to attend certain parts of, have legal representation at, or present evidence for. The state party’s bylaws prohibit any participant from being represented by legal counsel during these meetings unless their attorney is a member of the central committee.
According to the complaint, after a lengthy discussion, Park County GOP Chair Vince Vanata, a member of the committee, declared the “mediation” unsuccessful.
The next day, the committee issued an “Arbitration Order” that ruled in favor of the losing candidates and ordered the local party to conduct a recount and include the extra votes. Hot Springs was scheduled to have a meeting on Monday where Aguiar said she would call for the recount to occur.
“The intention is to abide by the directive of the party and conduct a recount as directed,” she said.
Since Aguiar doesn’t believe the election is over, she intended to preside as chair over the meeting.
The plaintiffs are seeking declaratory judgements that they have been duly elected to their respective offices, the state party’s dispute resolution process is void and unenforceable, the state party does not have the authority to require a recount, and injunctive relief.
Why It Matters
Although the state Republican and Democratic parties don’t make laws, their members do help pick replacement candidates for the governor or county commissioners to decide from when a political position becomes vacant. Their primary elections are also facilitated by the state, which the plaintiffs argue prevents them from being treated like a private club that can make whatever rules it wants.
“If defendant were the Rotary Club or Elks Lodge, then the foregoing bylaw provisions, however eccentric they might be, could be valid and enforceable under certain circumstances,” the filing reads. “But defendant is not a Rotary Club or an Elks Lodge. Rotarians do not get to select three persons, only one of which may be selected to fill a vacancy in the office of United States Senator, United States Representative, Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, State Auditor, or Superintendent of Public Instruction.”
At the state party’s upcoming meeting on May 3, the central committee will conduct elections of its officers. As elected leadership, Martinez and Scheel are allowed a vote in those elections. However, if they are prevented at this meeting, it could create a huge dispute over the matter discussed in the lawsuit.
Aguiar said the state party is fully intending to not recognize these positions and if a recount doesn’t occur, Hot Springs simply won’t have voting representation at the meeting.
“I will fight for the people in this county that do want representation at the state,” she said.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
