Dear editor:
Wyoming has never been shy about distrusting the federal government. We like our wide-open spaces and our arms-length relationship with Washington.
That is why Secretary of State Chuck Gray’s decision to disclose voter roll information to the U.S. Department of Justice should trouble every Wyomingite, regardless of party.
A recent public records request to the Secretary of State’s office seeks answers to basic questions the public deserves to know. What exactly did the federal government ask Wyoming to hand over.
Did it request personally identifiable information such as birth dates, phone numbers, email addresses, or other sensitive data. Was there an MOU. Who authorized any release.
What limits were placed on how the federal government could use, share, or store Wyoming voters’ data. If the state conducted any internal assessment about privacy risks, the public should see it.
This is not abstract. Once sensitive voter information leaves state control, it can be copied, redistributed, and misused in ways that cannot be undone. Wyoming voters did not sign up to have their personal data turned into a federal asset.
What makes the situation worse is the unavoidable political smell test. Would Secretary Gray have complied so readily if a Democratic administration were making the demand.
Many Wyoming leaders would have treated a similar request under President Biden as federal overreach, and rightly so. Yet when the party in power changes, the posture changes. That is not principle, it is partisanship.
Wyoming should not be more protective of voters’ privacy depending on who occupies the White House. The standard should be constant: the people of Wyoming come first, and their private information is not a bargaining chip for anyone’s national agenda.
And that is why Chuck Gray should be called out plainly: if he chose to “stand up to Washington” only when it scores partisan points, then he is not defending Wyoming at all.
He is using Wyoming voters as props while surrendering their private information to the very federal machine our state has always, and rightly, distrusted.
Let’s come together and find a Wyomingite for the US House of Representatives who will put Wyoming first, every time. He or she has my vote.
Sincerely,
Jason Ochs, Esq.
Jackson, Wyoming
