Gov. Mark Gordon is asking his appointed attorney general to pursue a case to remove the Weston County clerk from office, the governor announced Wednesday.
The announcement follows two different batches of complaints accusing Hadlock of misconduct after inaccuracies surfaced in two unopposed races in the November 2024 general election in Weston County.
In one race, a candidate’s votes became undervotes. In another, multiple candidates who weren’t competing as they vied for an equal number of county commission seats saw their votes misplaced as well.
The first batch of complaints, which a group of citizens filed with the governor in late 2024, didn’t include details about Hadlock filing what Secretary of State Chuck Gray has repeatedly called a false post-election audit, and either a fraudulent report or a report of an audit that wasn’t actually done.
Those earlier complaints also were filed before Hadlock was criminally charged in October with failing to appear for a legislative subpoena.
Gordon had refused to push for Hadlock’s removal in May, saying her mishandling of the election didn’t rise to the level of misconduct or malfeasance – a threshold standard for removal-from-office actions in Wyoming.
The second batch of complaints, which Weston County citizens filed in October 2025 and which related Gray’s chief complaint about Hadlock’s post-election audit, pushed Gordon over that threshold, his Wednesday statement indicates.
“The Governor believes the Weston County Clerk has committed several acts of misconduct or malfeasance including her failure to appear for a legislative subpoena and her filing of a false audit report in conjunction with her duties as the Clerk of Weston County,” says the statement.
As with his first investigation on Hadlock, Gordon emphasized that his investigations, and the processes they can trigger, are a serious duty.
These investigations enable statewide officials to influence the fate of locally-elected ones; and to change the outcome that local voters chose.
“Election results are the foundation of our democratic republic and they must be respected both in the secure and fair way that they should be conducted and in the respect that must be given to the will of the people whose votes were cast,” Gordon said in his letter to the attorney general. “Seeking to remove a duly elected officer for misconduct or malfeasance is a serious matter and should never be conducted unceremoniously, casually, maliciously, or without due process. Thus, an unsubstantiated charge to find anything that can be used to remove someone from office is improper.”
He continued, saying, “My statutory responsibility is to determine whether it appears to me that the specifics of a complaint are sufficient for me to direct the Attorney General to remove a duly elected county official for misconduct or malfeasance, not to conduct a witch hunt at the behest of a disgruntled group of citizens.”
Wyoming Attorney General Keith Kautz is now overseeing the process.
‘No Intention’ Of Quitting Now
Hadlock’s attorney Ryan Semerad told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday that Hadlock “has no intention to resign at this time.”
She’s also not going to be suspended. Gordon could have had her suspended during the proceedings, but did not invoke that option.
“Clerk Hadlock intends to fully serve the residents of Weston County to the very best of her ability,” said Semerad an interview early Wednesday afternoon. “That she is not intending to resign and that we at this point have not seen any petition from the AG or findings by the governor, but we look forward to reviewing those matters and responding accordingly.”
State law requires the courts system to move quickly once this action is filed.
A trial must happen, with or without a jury, in no fewer than five days and no more than 30 from the case filing.
If the court finds Hadlock committed misconduct or malfeasance, it will enter a judgment removing her from office and taxing her for the costs of the action, the law says.
If the judge on the case can’t hear it in time, he or she must call in another district court judge for it.
The Attorney General
Wyoming Attorney General Keith Kautz indicated in a Wednesday interview that he's going through the facts of the case himself, to digest the case and ensure that it merits a court action.
He noted that under state law, his office is now conducting its own investigation. That investigation is not limited to the governor's bases of referral. And the rules of professional conduct for attorneys require that the prosecutor, Kautz, be satisfied that he has sufficient grounds to prosecute Hadlock, "on the basis of my own investigation; not on the basis of, 'somebody told me to do this,'" he added.
"So that’s what we’re in the process of doing right now," said Kautz. "Doing our own little follow up investigation, following up to the governor's investigation, to be sure that I conclude there’s sufficient grounds to remove her; and that I determine even what those grounds are."
Freedom Caucus Says…
The Wyoming Freedom Caucus, which is a group of socially-conservative state House representatives, some of whom have pushed to investigate Hadlock in legislative proceedings, rejoiced the maneuver in a Wednesday statement.
Hadlock in November 2024 “effectively eras(ed) over 1,2000 legally cast votes, falsely explaining away the missing votes as ‘protest votes’ against WYFC member and House Speaker Chip Neiman,” says the statement. A county commission race was also impacted.
“After pleas for accountability were ignored by Governor Gordon, the legislature’s Management Audit Committee, led by WYFC Vice Chairman Chris Knapp, investigated the debacle,” thee statement says.
WYFC Chair Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Willams, R-Cody, led the investigatory subcommittee.
That committee and the subpoena that followed later became the subject of a motion Semerad filed in Hadlock’s defense, in her criminal case; in which Semerad accuses lawmakers of violating the law by exceeding their authority and violating Hadlock’s rights.
The state had not filed a response to Semerad’s argument as of Wednesday. The court has not issued a decision on it.
The WYFC statement says the investigatory subcommittee “uncovered Hadlock’s clear dereliction of duty and disregard for the law- so much so that the insiders couldn’t ignore it any longer.”
The statement does not identify who “the insiders” are.
“We cheer the Attorney General’s move to begin removal proceedings against Hadlock, and we will never stop fighting for accountability in Wyoming government,” the statement concludes.
Gray Says…
Gray likewise complimented Gordon’s maneuver in a Wednesday statement, saying he’s “relieved” to see it after more than a year of testimony, referrals and investigation.
“Our referrals of Becky Hadlock were not made lightly, and I continue to be troubled by Clerk Hadlock’s pattern of conduct,” wrote Gray. “I have continued to pursue these issues because of how serious they are, and how important it was for there to be oversight and accountability.”
Gray asserts in the statement that “The media tried to obscure the seriousness of the situation, but we never gave up on exposing the truth.”
He emphasized his role as chief election official of Wyoming, and the onus in that to provide oversight and accountability of county election processes.
“ In particular, Clerk Hadlock’s submittal of a false post-election audit report on November 6, 2024, which triggered our immediate investigation and referral for removal in March 2025, were deeply troubling,” said Gray. “I was also deeply concerned by Clerk Hadlock’s failure to comply with a legislative subpoena issued by the Wyoming Legislature’s Management Audit Committee, in order to address the false post-election audit. This has always been about accountability and the truth. And accountability is finally beginning to happen.”
More From Gordon
Gordon wrote that, this time around, he considers Hadlock's "first act of malfeasance" her failure to appear for the legislative subpoena.
"I acknowledge that this discussion is currently before the court. More pivotal in my determination here is her failure to confirm the adequacy of the arrangements and to take on faith, having heard nothing to the contrary, that those arrangements were satisfactory," he wrote in his letter to the attorney general. "It seems to me that any responsible public servant would make an effort to obtain some documentation or affirmation that their arrangements had been properly accepted before proceeding to miss such an obviously important summons from the legislature. The fact that this issue has even raised its head demonstrates a pattern of carelessness and inattention to detail on the part of Clerk Hadlock that is consistent with our earlier finding of incompetence in the 2024 general election."
Gordon added: "At some point persistent incompetence rises to a level of misconduct whether willful or not. Clerk Hadlock’s pattern of lackadaisical conduct in these matters appears sufficient to me to presume misconduct."
Secondly, he continued, the post-election audit failed to discover 21 incorrect ballot entries - and that could "likely" be construed as misconduct or malfeasance, since there appears to be no explanation for how the initial audit could have missed the 21 ballot errors ultimately found.
His office said in September that Gordon could not investigate the post-election audit issue when he received the first round of complaints, because those didn't address it. Gray had, but he's not a valid complainant under this statute since he's not an elector of Weston County, Gordon's office said at the time.
"I will note, as I did relative to the separate verified complaints discussed in May, that the ballot problem was discovered, appropriate action was taken, and proper election results were finally approved by the Weston County Canvassing Board," wrote Gordon. "Moreover, the eventual election of county officers and a state representative determined in the general election in Weston County was never in doubt as these positions were uncontested. While I do not believe that Clerk Hadlock displayed any malicious intent to change the outcome of the election, I do believe that her failure to properly perform the post-election audit as brought forward in the October verified complaint, adds to the findings of incompetence outlined in my May 23, 2025 decision."
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
