In February I posed a simple question, after I discovered that Secretary of State Chuck Gray had released a list of registered Wyoming voters including dates of birth, partial social security numbers, and drivers’ license numbers to the Department of Justice (“DOJ”).
I simply asked, “Secretary Gray, why did you release my confidential voter information?”
Gray’s decision to release this information in August 2025 without any notice surprised me because Wyoming statute 22-2-113(d) says that this information is confidential.
Election records containing social security numbers, portions of social security numbers, driver's license numbers, birth dates, telephone numbers, tribal identification card numbers, e-mail addresses and other personally identifiable information other than names, gender, addresses, unique identifying numbers generated by the state and party affiliations are not public records and shall be kept confidential.
The Secretary of State’s website reaffirms this promise to every Wyoming voter. “Your date of birth, drivers’ license and social security numbers, telephone number, and email address are confidential.” So, why did Gray decide to release this information?
Gray has claimed that he was only complying with a “lawful request” from the federal authorities after “in close consultation with the Wyoming Attorney General [“WAG”] and the Wyoming Attorney General’s office.”
Incredibly, he continues to maintain that “voter information has, and continues to remain, confidential under the law [sic],” even though DOJ told him at the time that it could share this information with other federal agencies.
Wyoming was one of many states targeted by DOJ’s unprecedented demand for confidential voting records in 2025. Most states have refused to turn over this sensitive information, but not Wyoming.
In fact, Wyoming was one of the first states to open its books.
DOJ claimed entitlement to this information under the terms of the Help America Vote Act (“HAVA”), the National Voter Registration Act (“NVRA”) and the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (“CRA”).
The DOJ said that federal law preempted any state law. But those claims have been successfully challenged by other states.
The DOJ has now sued 30 states for refusing to surrender voter lists with confidential information, including such “liberal” hotbed as Idaho, Utah and West Virginia.
Most of these lawsuits are still working their way through the system. But three of those lawsuits have been dismissed.
Three federal judges in three different states have held that the DOJ had no legal right to make these demands for the confidential personal information about voters.
State laws governing confidentiality of voter records were fully enforceable. If Gray had stood up for the voters of Wyoming, our confidential voter information would still be protected.
Using the Wyoming Public Records Act (“WPRA”), I have asked Gray to produce the records regarding his release of this confidential information to the DOJ. What have I have learned?
I learned that Gray will deny access to “confidential” voter information, if it suits his purpose.
For example, when I asked Gray for a copy of my personal information from the list that Gray sent to Washington, I got a single line of data with my date of birth, social security number and drivers’ license numbers had been blacked out, because “any personally identifiable information which is confidential under Wyoming law, including W.S. 22-2-113, will be redacted.”
Although Gray shared my confidential information with the DOJ, he would not let me see it.
I learned that, although Gray contacted the WAG office shortly before he released our confidential records, he will not produce any records regarding his “close consultation” with the WAG.
Gray says he gave the WAG a copy of the DOJ demand letter, had a 30-minute telephone call with the WAG and members of his staff, and received an “ancillary” email from the WAG.
But I still don’t know what questions Gray may have raised or what answers the WAG may have given.
Gray has used these thin threads to create the suggestion that the WAG gave Gray a license to violate the confidentiality of every Wyoming voter.
If so, then why won’t he show us the records that document the terms of that license?
If Gray wants to claim that he has a get out of jail card, he should let us see it.
Gray occupies a position of public trust and has been entrusted with the duty to maintain confidential information. If he says he got permission to violate that duty, then why won’t he show us what he relied on to justify his decision?
Secretary Gray, you have never answered my original question.
Why did you release my confidential voter information? This is not an idle inquiry.
Given President Trump’s expressed intent to create “state citizenship lists” using the confidential information contained in these voter lists, why should we trust you to resist further federal efforts to encroach upon the constitutional right of states to control elections?
George Powers is a Cheyenne attorney
