Wyoming’s governor on Monday announced that he’s received at least four more complaints about the Weston County clerk’s handling of the 2024 general election and calling for her to be removed from office.
This time the complaints focus on her filing of a post-election audit and her failure to honor a legislative subpoena to a Sept. 29 state committee meeting.
Gov. Mark Gordon this spring and summer investigated whether he should ask the attorney general to initiate a removal-from-office proceeding against Weston County Clerk Becky Hadlock.
The governor found that although Hadlock’s office botched the 2024 general election in her county — which warped two uncontested elections — her conduct didn’t constitute “willful negligence” or “malicious intent.”
Gordon also said he was not eager to infringe the autonomy of the Weston County voters by removing their elected official from his statewide office.
Wanting to dig deeper, the legislative Management Audit Committee in July issued a subpoena, compelling Hadlock to meet with a subcommittee on her election at its Sept. 29 meeting in Casper.
Hadlock did not appear that day, risking a criminal penalty of up to six months in jail and $100 in fines.
Natrona County District Attorney Dan Itzen told Cowboy State Daily on Monday afternoon that an investigative affidavit by the Natrona County Sheriff’s Office is on his desk, and he’s reviewing it.
That leaves the question of whether Hadlock will be charged criminally still tentative.
The Secretary’s Biggest Issue
The governor didn’t address what his frequent critic, Secretary of State Chuck Gray, called the key issue: that Hadlock had filed a post-election audit claiming the ballots didn’t have problems.
The ballots did show problems, the investigation revealed, so Hadlock either lied about the audit or about conducting one altogether, Gray has said on many occasions.
Gordon’s office countered in September, saying the post-election audit issue wasn’t outlined in the complaints from Weston County electors.
It was a feature in Gray’s complaint to the governor. But the law only provides the governor a mechanism for acting on the complaints of local electors, his office said.
So, four Weston County people filed fresh complaints Monday, Allen Slagle, one of the complainants, told Cowboy State Daily in a phone interview.
He noted that of 75 ballots checked in the audit, 21 revealed problems, though the audit attested they were fine.
“Basically, if our clerk said there was no problems with the post-election audit and it shows that there definitely was, then we have a problem with our clerk not being honest,” said Slagle.
His complaint specifically references the post-election audit, said Slagle. And he filed it to give the governor’s office a means to pursue that issue, since he’s an elector of Weston County, he added.
Hadlock’s office did not immediately respond Monday to a late-day request for comment.
The other three people who filed complaints Monday are Karen Drost, Stanley Jasinski and Susan Love, according to a statement Gordon’s office released.
‘Will Examine’
Gordon’s office “will examine the verified complaint and conduct a thorough investigation to determine whether the allegations justify pursuing the requested statutory removal process,” says Gordon’s Monday statement.
Until then, the governor isn’t going to discuss the pending investigation, the statement adds.
“Given the very serious nature of the potential consequences, which is the removal of an official duly elected by the voters of Weston County, preserving the objectivity and integrity of this process is crucial,” says the statement. “Consequently, the Governor will have no comment on this investigation while it is ongoing, focusing instead on reviewing and determining relevant facts.”
Gray in a Monday text message to Cowboy State Daily said Hadlock’s post-election audit “suggests an attempt to potentially coverup (sic) the ballot misalignment error” that impacted the outcome of the 2024 election.
“I dispute the Governor’s statement that the issue regarding the Weston County Clerk’s submittal of a false post-election audit is ‘new,’” added Gray, “as the issue was first raised in the 2024 State Canvassing Board meeting in November, as well as made part of the official record during the Governor’s review of the petition submitted by Weston County citizens in December of 2024.”
That was a reference to his own complaint regarding the audit, which, according to an email Gray sent Monday to Cowboy State Daily, the governor incorporated into the record.
Gray said he hopes the governor “finally addresses the failure to respond to the subpoena and the false post-election audit in his review of these complaints.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
