Election inspection — Hadlock to testify before legislative committee

The Weston County Clerk 2024 General Election Subcommittee of the Wyoming State Legislature has issued a subpoena to compel the testimony of Weston County Clerk Becky Hadlock at the group’s meeting in Casper later this month.

The subpoena was issued after both Hadlock and her deputy said they had no time to testify when asked, according to Rep. Christopher Knapp, R-Gillette, chairman of the Wyoming Legislature’s Management Audit Committee, which authorized creation of the subcommittee. 

Knapp told the News Letter Journal on Sept. 22 that the subcommittee is dedicated to finding the facts related to 2024 General Election anomalies in Weston County. He said that, to accomplish this, the subcommittee needed all documents, reports and testimony, which is a big part of having the entire picture. 

According to Knapp, the subcommittee reached out to Hadlock and asked her to testify. She declined, citing a scheduling conflict. With the hopes of having her testify without a subpoena, the subcommittee offered to allow for testimony via Zoom by either Hadlock or her deputy clerk on her behalf, but both still declined. 

Because both refused to testify, Knapp said, the subcommittee had a subpoena issued to compel Hadlock’s testimony. He said having her answer the subcommittee’s questions will help create a clear picture of the findings to submit to the Management Audit Committee next month. 

Hadlock is scheduled to address the Weston County Clerk 2024 General Election Subcommittee on Sept. 29 in Casper. She is the first to speak on the agenda, scheduled for 10:35 a.m. 

As previously reported by the News Letter Journal, the subcommittee was created during a July 9 meeting of the Management Audit Committee to further investigate a ballot-counting error that resulted in more than 1,000 votes not being tallied in the House District 1 race in Weston County, and at least one other mistake that resulted in a miscount in the county commission election. The subcommittee will also be looking into the clerk’s actions once the error was discovered.

Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, moved to create 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.”

Knapp said it was the Management Audit Committee’s obligation to look at current statutes and determine what went wrong and where improvements could be made. The subcommittee, he said, will handle the “findings of fact” and make no decisions.

“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 said at the time. “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.”

Secretary of State Chuck Gray spoke in favor of creating the subcommittee, saying his main concern is the false post-election audit created and submitted by Hadlock to the state. Gray said the audit should have revealed issues in the vote tallies but instead showed no anomalies.

Prior to the subcommittee’s creation, Gray and his office had conducted their own investigation into the actions related to the election. The results of his investigation were released in March, recommending the removal of Hadlock from office after he said there was “misconduct or malfeasance” in her conduct.

The investigation outlined not only the issue with the post-election audit but also issues with ballot misalignment, incorrect tabulation, incorrect unofficial results, testing problems and a lack of responsibility on Hadlock’s part. 

The investigation was turned over to Gov. Mark Gordon, who also conducted an investigation and released his findings on May 23. His investigation was sparked by a citizen complaint. 

“The Governor determined that while Clerk Hadlock made serious mistakes in the 2024 Weston County elections, her actions do not constitute ‘willful negligence’ or ‘malicious intent.’ Therefore, he will not direct the Attorney General to commence an action to initiate the clerk’s removal from office,” a release on the findings said.

Gray said Gordon’s investigation and decision failed to address the false post-election audit, something he called the most important issue. Gordon did criticize Hadlock for not being as forthcoming as he would have liked and for her mismanagement of the situation.

“It is clear that Clerk Hadlock made many mistakes and exhibited a high degree of unprofessional and perhaps slipshod management of the election,” Gordon wrote. “Still, the system set up to discover, correct, and properly count votes worked here.”

According to the meeting notes at wyoleg.gov, the subcommittee will look directly at the post-election audit and the statutes involved.

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

According to information at wyoleg.gov, the subcommittee will gather information to prepare a report to be given to the Management Audit Committee for consideration at its Oct. 21 meeting.

The committee — made up of Chair Rodriguez-Williams; Rep. Jayme Lien, R-Casper; Sen. Bob Ide, R-Casper; and Sen. Dan Laursen, R-Powell — will meet in Casper at the Thyra Thomson State Office Building. A livestream will be available at wyoleg.gov.

Public comment will be allowed virtually for a limited number of participants who sign up. The amount of time will be decided by the committee chair, per the Management Council policy.

Those wishing to provide virtual comment should fill out the form to ensure that the committee knows their intentions. A link to register can be found on the subcommittee’s page at wyoleg.gov. Only those who register and receive an emailed Zoom invitation from the Legislative Service Office will be permitted to testify.

Anyone planning to provide materials to the committee should submit them electronically, and hard copies should be on three-hole paper. The website notes that all materials will be part of the official record of the meeting and on file at the Legislative Service Office.

In addition to Hadlock, Debra Piana, Weston County Democratic Party chairwoman, and Ann Slagle, an election judge, will both testify. The agenda notes that both are members of the Weston County Hand-Count Committee and are scheduled to testify after Hadlock. 

Secretary of State Chuck Gray also will testify at 11:30 a.m., followed by public comment at 12:30 p.m.