Another look — State legislative committee to look into Hadlock’s actions

Investigations into Weston County Clerk Becky Hadlock’s actions during the 2024 General Election will continue after the Wyoming Legislature’s Management Audit Committee approved a motion to create a subcommittee to look into the issue. The committee met on July 9.

The motion, made by Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, creates a subcommittee to “receive and compel testimony, investigate and produce a comprehensive report specifically to … findings
and conclusions regarding the post-election audit that was submitted by the Weston County Clerk after the 2024 general election and the administrative process used to investigate and adjudicate consequences for those actions.”

On the July 9 meeting agenda, item no. 5 was listed as consideration of an additional interim topic – specifically, the review of W.S. 18-3-902 regarding county officer misconduct and malfeasance. 

To begin the discussion, the chairman of the committee, Rep. Christopher Knapp,  R-Gillette, said the committee has an obligation to look at current statutes to see what went wrong and where the Legislature can improve those statutes. 

“We’re not a body that will decide anything, but we are a body that can at least do a findings of fact,” Knapp said. 

“It is not a witch hunt. We’re not trying to go backwards in time, but it is moving forward to see where our statutes broke down,” Knapp continued. “This was a serious, serious issue, and I think we owe it to those constituents and the voters of Wyoming to look at this and say what statutes were in play, what statutes maybe didn’t get carried out properly with the intent that they were meant to or what we need to add to statutes.”

Knapp noted that the committee’s goal would be to have findings of facts ready to present to either another legislative committee or to state authorities, such as the Wyoming attorney general and governor. 

Both Rep. Jayme Lien, R-Casper, and Rodriguez-Williams spoke in favor of the idea. Lien said that the committee should also evaluate the rules and processes that are working well statutorily, in addition to those that aren’t. 

Also speaking in favor of the committee was Secretary of State Chuck Gray. Gray outlined his concerns regarding Gov. Mark Gordon’s choice to ignore the fact that Hadlock submitted a false post-election audit in the investigation the state’s chief executive conducted into the matter at the request of several Weston County citizens. Gray said the audit should have revealed that issues existed in the vote tallies, but instead showed no anomalies. 

A post-election audit conducted by the Secretary of State’s office after a hand count corrected the tally revealed findings and/or errors that the ballot anomaly would have caused, Gray previously told the News Letter Journal. 

“I want to alert the committee to my concerns, which still remain, pertaining specifically to the Weston county clerk’s submission of a false post-election audit, which was never discussed in Gov. Gordon’s declination to take any action under 18-3-902,” Gray said. 

He noted that the issues surrounding ballot misalignment, incorrect tabulation and incorrect unofficial results are not what sparked his investigation into Hadlock. 

Instead, the false filing of the post-election audit motivated the investigation by his office that was completed in May. Those findings were turned over to the attorney general and Gordon. 

“And I want to emphasize again that the governor did not include any discussion of this issue. In my opinion, the most important issue, uh, in his letter regarding the Title 18 process. So appreciate you looking at this,” Gray said. 

He noted, when asked, that he has not received a call or anything from the attorney general’s office stating that they were declining to prosecute Hadlock. 

Gray told the News Letter Journal via email on July 13 that this further investigation into Hadlock’s conduct is very important and one he completely supports. 

“Our referral and recommendation to the Governor were not made lightly. The findings of our independent investigation demand serious attention, and I was very concerned that our most serious finding, that of Clerk Hadlock’s filing a false post-election audit with our office, was completely ignored by Gordon in his decision not to pursue any action against Clerk Hadlock,” Gray said. “I applaud the Management Audit Committee’s commitment to exposing the truth. The people of Wyoming demand answers to their very real concerns that were raised regarding the false post-election audit that was submitted after the 2024 General Election.”

“So, we had several, I think, deficiencies. One was the ballots. I understand that was probably a mistake,” Knapp said. “The focus I have is, where did we fail statutorily
in the audit process and having that oversight for that compliance.” 

There was no further information available at this time on dates for subcommittee meetings or identities of its members.