Gray: Filing a false post-election audit a felony
State elections chief cites several discrepancies in recommending clerk’s removal
Secretary of State Chuck Gray has officially recommended the removal of Weston County Clerk Becky Hadlock from office after he said it is clear there was “misconduct or malfeasance” in Hadlock’s conduct during the 2024 election cycle.
Following a press conference, Gray hand-delivered a nine-page letter with over 80 pages of attachments to Gov. Mark Gordon’s office — all of which were provided to the News Letter Journal by Gray’s office upon request. In his letter, he says that the standard of “misconduct or malfeasance in office has clearly been met,” subjecting Hadlock to removal proceeding in district court pursuant to Wyoming Statute 18-3-902.
“Clerk Hadlock’s conduct shows a pattern of gross incompetence and even wilful neglect of her duties as the chief election officer of Weston County,” Gray said in a press conference. “Through her errors with the 2024 primary and general election, Clerk Hadlock has shown again that repeated dereliction of those duties. Most importantly, and I want to emphasize this, we must highlight (that) Clerk Hadlock’s conduct in filing a false post-election audit in contravention to Wyoming law indicated a repeated and heightened level of misconduct.”
Earlier in the press conference, Gray had stated that her submission of a false post-election audit to his office is a violation of Wyoming Statute 6-54-308 and constitutes a felony crime.
According to Gray, there are only two reasonable explanations for the submission of a false post-election audit: One, Hadlock conducted the audit, found the errors and chose to assert that no errors had been found; or two, that no post-election audit was conducted.
“Which raises concerns if Hadlock had ever conducted a post-election audit,” he said.
In his letter, Gray explains that despite his concerns surrounding the results of the general election, specifically the number of votes received by Rep. Chip Neiman, Hadlock produced a perfect post-election audit that was filed with the Secretary of State’s Office on Nov. 6.
“Despite the anomalies communicated by the Secretary of State, the audit reported audit findings of ‘no issues’ for each ballot audited. Clerk Hadlock affirmatively indicated that Hadlock had audited the requisite number of ballots and that they matched the results that were recorded in the cast vote record,” the letter says.
After Hadlock and the Wyoming County Clerk’s Association “agreed to a hand examination of the ballots,” it was determined that Neiman’s race was in fact recorded erroneously.
According to Hadlock’s initial reports, Neiman received 166 votes in his uncontested race, with 1,289 undervotes counted. After a recount, it was reported that Neiman received 1,268 votes, with 166 undervotes.
The recount also included the Weston County commissioners race. While the change was not as significant as it was in the House District 1 race, Commissioner Ed Wagoner’s total increased by 62 votes, from 2,361 to 2,424 and Marty Ertman’s tally dropped by 62 votes from 2,225 to 2,163.
This resulted in the discovery that Hadlock had used multiple ballots, two misprints and one correct ballot, during the election. Pursuant to Wyoming Statute 22-6-102(a), Gray said the county clerk is responsible for the printing of official ballots. He also noted that Hadlock admitted to making the mistake.
Despite the Weston County canvassing board’s confirmation of the inaccuracies in the reported results, Gray said the post-election audit still indicated no errors. Hadlock was contacted on Nov. 9 and informed that the Secretary of State’s office questioned the results of the audit.
“Clerk Hadlock did not respond to this email. However, Hadlock submitted a second post-election audit, which identified 21 ballots with a discrepancy,” he said in the letter.
This resubmission of results, he said, confirmed both the errors made by Hadlock as well as the incorrect post-election audit results filed with his office.
In addition to violations associated with the post-election audit, Gray also outlined violations of Wyoming Statute regarding machine testing, properly sealing and the custody of voting equipment and ballots, as well as training for election workers.
In both the 2024 primary and general elections, Gray asserts that Hadlock failed to comport with Wyoming Statute 22-11-104 referencing voting machine testing.
In the primary election, “the Weston County Clerk was one of several county clerks whose logic and accuracy test did not assign a different number of votes to each candidate, necessitating a retest of their voting machines prior to the 2024 primary election, which also failed to comport with Wyoming law.”
He noted it is unclear if Hadlock retested a third time to remedy the errors in the first two tests before the primary election.
In the general election, Gray raised concerns about the timing of her testing. He stated that she submitted her results on the last day allowed by statute, only after he sent an email explaining that Weston County was the only county that had not certified the completion of its logic and accuracy testing.
Despite continued communication with Hadlock about the statute requirement that a “different number of valid votes shall be assigned to each candidate for an office, and for and against each measure,” Hadlock again submitted a test in which a number of precincts contained the same number of votes assigned to each candidate.
A separate email was sent certifying these results.
Following this set of testing, the Wyoming Republican Party contacted Weston County Attorney Michael Stulken regarding “various alleged errors in Hadlock’s logic and accuracy test and the test’s violations of W.S. 22-11-104(b)(iii).”
In response, Gray said Hadlock attempted to contact his office, and that she was reminded of the statute requirements regarding machine testing, including the requirement that the public be allowed to witness the test.
“In agreeing to conduct a retest on October 30, 2024, Clerk Hadlock sent an email to the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office requesting permission to only have the chairmen of each of the major county parties present, as opposed to the public at large, as required by Chapter 29, Section 6(c) of the Secretary of State’s Election Procedures,” the letter says.
In response, she was reminded that other witnesses were allowed to be present at the test, and the results of the retest were submitted to Gray’s office on Oct. 31, 2024.
Other assertions made by Gray concern the handling of ballots and voting equipment.
“As reported by a complaint received by the Secretary of State’s office, multiple election judges in Weston County contacted the Weston County Clerk, noting multiple failures in the 2024 Primary Election, including inadequate training of election judges prior to the day of the election, practices and procedures which did not ensure proper chain of custody of voting machines and ballots, and improper use of seals on voting equipment,” the letter says.
These include, it notes, the failure of Hadlock to deliver partisan and non-partisan ballots to be properly sealed and delivered as required by W.S. 22-12-107 and W.S. 22-12-108, the failure to deliver sample ballots to polling locations as required by W.S. 22-6-104 and the failure of Hadlock to follow appropriate safeguards and chain of custody for voting machine seals and keys to voting machines, as required by W.S. 22-10-109.
“Our office also received reports that Clerk Hadlock made several representations to members of the public that an individual who was appointed by the Weston County Republican Party as a poll watcher, was an election judge, despite not receiving any training, and without being administered any oath as required by W.S. 22-8-115,” the letter says.
The letter concludes that “Clerk Hadlock has shown a continual inability to communicate with the people of Wyoming and our office. Additionally, her attitude toward the people of Wyoming have also shown a level of incompetence and unprofessionalism unbecoming of a Wyoming election official. And she has shown an inability to learn from mistakes.”
“I believe the standard of misconduct or malfeasance in office has clearly been met, which should subject her to (a) removal proceeding in district court pursuant to W.S. 18-3-902. I recommend the Governor direct the Attorney General to commence removal proceedings in district court,” Gray said.
Commission Chair Nathan Todd told the News Letter Journal after the announcement made by Gray that a little grace would go a long way in Weston County and the state as “we are a citizen government and mistakes happen.”
“I have full faith in Clerk Hadlock performing her responsibilities as county clerk, I believe it’s premature for the secretary of state to release his statement prior to the governor’s investigation being finished as the secretary has no place in removing the clerk from her duties,” Todd said in an email.