After the governor’s office declined in May to remove the Weston County Clerk from office over a botched handling of some 2024 general election ballots, a legislative committee has decided to investigate the incident.
The subcommittee that the legislative Management Audit Committee chair is now forming doesn’t have the authority to prosecute or remove Weston County Clerk Becky Hadlock. Rather, its focus is to review what happened and see if it’s time to change Wyoming’s laws in light of it, Committee Chair Christopher Knapp, R-Gillette, told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday.
Knapp said he’s choosing two state senators and two state House representatives from the Management Audit Committee’s 11-person panel to form the subcommittee.
“I will keep you informed (on who those are) as we confirm,” he said in a Tuesday text message.
“My intent is to have most work done by receiving documents and conducting Zoom interviews so we do not incur any additional meeting dates or expenses,” Knapp added, a nod to the requirement that the subcommittee will have to stay within the Management Audit Committee’s budget of $27,500 for this interim.
The committee has had two meetings so far (the first of which cost about $2,500) and is scheduled for a third in October.
As for the subcommittee, Knapp said he expects “a good end result of finding out what happened and how we can improve the process and accountability with legislation if needed.”
Well That’s Awkward
Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, countered, saying the Corporations Committee — not a task force created by the Management Audit Committee — is the appropriate venue for sparking election-code changes.
The Republican committee majority “want the right for their people to be able to go and harass the folks of Weston County,” Rothfuss said Tuesday, clarifying that his statements are more about his doubts about the motives behind the subcommittee’s formation than a judgement on what happened in Weston County.
He theorized that this is a move to “carry water for the secretary of state based on his political interests.”
Secretary of State Chuck Gray has spoken publicly about the Weston County incident for months, and at various presentations around the state.
“(This) is just using Management Audit for political theater and political gain, once again,” said Rothfuss. “Which is very awkward.”
Not Us
Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander, who chairs the Senate Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee, said Gray didn’t ask his committee to form the investigative panel that Management Audit is now creating.
The Corporations Committee is a more appropriate place for such a move, Case said in agreement with Rothfuss. But he expressed doubt that the subcommittee is needed at all — no matter how well-versed in election code its umbrella committee is.
“I’m not seeing anything other than, kind of, a mistake in the Weston County thing,” said Case. “And maybe someone that was needled by Gray and didn’t respond appropriately.”
No matter how sound laws and elections are, mistakes and flukes remain possible, said Case.
And I’d Invite Them
At the Management Audit Committee’s meeting last week, Secretary of State Chuck Gray spoke in favor of the subcommittee.
He related how on election night last November, he noticed an improbable volume of undervotes in the race of House Speaker Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, and tried to find Hadlock.
Neiman was running uncontested.
When he couldn’t reach her, he asked the Weston County Sheriff to find her, and the sheriff did, said Gray.
Hadlock initially said there wasn’t an error, according to Gray’s testimony. Later inquiries showed erroneous ballots were mixed in with the election ballots, leading to ballot alignment problems.
“I want to point out those original errors did not trigger my request for removal,” said Gray when speaking to the committee.
Rather, the “most important problem” was how Hadlock handled the post-election audits and inquiries, he said.
She submitted an audit report showing “no issues” for the ballots audited in the election. She later submitted a second post-election audit that showed 21 ballots with a discrepancy.
Gray said the only two reasons he can think of for the clean first audit would be either that Hadlock wasn’t honest about the audit results or didn’t perform the audit at all.
“If anyone has another explanation, we’d certainly invite them to put that explanation forward,” said Gray, gesturing with both arms.
After his presentation Gray had his office's policy director hand out pre-sorted and bound copies of his office's misconduct referral to committee members.
Gov. Mark Gordon in May declined to have Hadlock prosecuted for removal from public office because he couldn’t find “misconduct” or “malfeasance” in the official’s actions.
“Although I recognize that Clerk Hadlock made many serious mistakes in the 2024 Weston County elections,” wrote Gordon in a decision letter, “her actions do not rise to the level of misconduct or malfeasance, as I understand the meaning of those terms in this situation. I do not believe there is a clear path to proving guilt.”
It doesn’t seem Hadlock was trying to skew an election, though she showed incompetence and a concerning level of indifference, the governor added.
Another reason the governor chose not to intervene is out of respect for Weston County and its local electorate, he wrote.
Hadlock did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
Gordon's office referred Cowboy State Daily to his May findings report.
Secretary Says
Gray on Tuesday told Cowboy State Daily the subcommittee formation “is important and a decision I completely support,” and an echo of concern he’s heard from around the state.
“And when I heard the Legislature was interested,” added gray, “I wanted to testify at the committee hearing regarding our referral (deriding Hadlock’s conduct).”
To Gray, the committee is picking up the slack where “Gordon “completely ignored the most serious allegation” of Hadlock filing a false-post-election audit with Gray’s office, which the secretary called “deeply disturbing.”
The audit, which happened after people cast their votes but before the vote was finalized by the canvassing board, “should have caught the ballot alignment errors, and yet it was filed falsely.”
He added: “The question is how on earth could that happen, and that's what the committee is evaluating.”
Gray said the Management Audit Committee is pursuing the exposure of the truth, and the people of Wyoming “demand answers to their very real concerns” surrounding this incident.
As for Rothfuss, Gray said he “consistently opposed motions for commonsense audits and accountability at last week's meeting,” so the secretary is unsurprised at his objection in this instance.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
