More testimony wanted — Subcommittee’s election work extended

State lawmakers voted on Oct. 21 to give the 2024 General Election in Weston County one more day to take additional testimony — and possibly compel Weston County Clerk Becky Hadlock to appear under court order — as part of an ongoing investigation into irregularities in the county’s 2024 General Election.

As previously reported, Hadlock failed to appear during the Sept. 29 subcommittee meeting, despite being served a subpoena. 

The Management Audit Committee voted 9-0 to extend the subcommittee’s work and allow minor corrections to its report on the Weston County experience. The subcommittee will once again try to hear Hadlock’s side of the story. 

Lawmakers said the panel’s role remains fact-finding, not legal adjudication, but emphasized the importance of maintaining public confidence in Wyoming’s elections.

“It was unfortunate that we didn’t have the person that was intended to be there show up, ’cause that was the reason effectively that we had the meeting. And that to me says a lot about why wouldn’t you want to come defend yourself,” Sen. Bob Ide, R-Casper, said. “I’m not saying who’s guilty or who’s not, but you at least like to get both sides of the argument to make a good decision — and we never got that.”

“We’re here to find out what happened and how to prevent it from happening again,” one lawmaker said, noting that the committee’s duty was to uncover facts rather than assign guilt.

Findings

According to the subcommittee’s report dated October 2025, two invalid versions of Weston County’s 2024 General Election ballot were distributed alongside the valid version. The error caused machine-reading failures that misclassified 1,279 legitimate votes as undervotes — ballots recorded as blank. These problems were highlighted in verified complaints from Weston County voters, as well as an unverified complaint filed by Secretary of State Chuck Gray.

The report noted that election procedures, including required post-election audits, are almost entirely managed by county clerks. In Weston County’s case, the clerk’s submission to the Secretary of State’s Office failed to identify 21 machine-reading errors in a random hand-count of 75 ballots. Those discrepancies triggered full hand-counts in two races, revealing valid votes that had not been included in the original tally.

Four election bills advance

Lawmakers also advanced four bill drafts, all approved unanimously, aimed at tightening election oversight and accountability. These bills were outlined in the subcommittee’s report.

26LSO-0248: Legislative Subpoena Penalty: Increases the fine for failing to appear under legislative subpoena from $100 to $750.

26LSO-0249: Falsifying Election Documents: Makes it a crime to knowingly submit a false post-election audit to the Secretary of State.
26LSO-0250: Post-Election Audit Procedures: Requires party and candidate observers during audits, mandates they take an oath of confidentiality and adds requirements for public notice, meeting minutes and submission of those minutes with audit results.
26LSO-0251: Removal of County Officers (Election Code): Authorizes the Secretary of State to file verified complaints with the governor seeking the removal of a county clerk for election-related misconduct.

Next steps

The subcommittee will reconvene for another meeting to finalize its report and may seek a court order compelling Hadlock’s testimony. The four bill drafts now head to the 2026 budget session for full legislative consideration.

Meanwhile, the Governor’s Office has received new verified complaints regarding the Weston County election and plans to conduct a fresh review of the matter before the end of 2025.