Wyoming lawmakers to pursue criminal charges against Weston County clerk for allegedly defying subpoena

FROM WYOFILE:

Clerk Becky Hadlock did not appear Monday at a legislative committee meeting after being subpoenaed to do so.

CASPER—Wyoming lawmakers will pursue criminal charges against Weston County Clerk Becky Hadlock for allegedly defying a subpoena and failing to appear Monday at a subcommittee meeting. 

“This is a big violation,” Sen. Dan Laursen, R-Powell, said as the Wyoming Legislature’s Weston County Clerk 2024 General Election Subcommittee met Monday morning in Casper. 

The violation is a misdemeanor. If convicted, Hadlock could be fined up to $100 and sentenced to county jail for no more than six months. 

The Joint Management Audit Committee’s chair, Rep. Chris Knapp of Gillette, subpoenaed Hadlock to appear and testify at Monday’s meeting. But the clerk informed lawmakers via letter that she would not attend due to a scheduling conflict, Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody, said at the meeting. Rodriguez-Williams confirmed to WyoFile that the lawmakers would pursue criminal charges against Hadlock due to her failure to appear. 

In the 2024 general election, Hadlock caused an initial ballot miscount in her county’s results after using the wrong ballots. Those results showed Rep. Chip Neiman received 166 votes for House District 1, while 1,289 left that part of the ballot blank, also known as an undervote. That count caught Secretary of State Chuck Gray’s attention. His office intervened and ultimately a hand count was conducted. 

That did not resolve the issue, however, for several Weston County voters who asked the Wyoming State Canvassing Board not to certify the results of the election. 

“I would like to state that if you certify this election, knowing that one county found flipped votes, and no other counties have been checked by hand, that you’re damaging the integrity of Wyoming,” Weston County resident Susan Love told the board at the time. 

The board unanimously voted to certify the results. However, Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who chairs the board, said his office planned “a more full analysis evaluating [the clerk’s] conduct.”

The following month, eight Weston County voters filed a formal complaint with Gov. Mark Gordon’s office, alleging Hadlock committed “acts of misconduct and malfeasance.” 

Altogether, Hadlock faced accusations that she mishandled election ballots by ordering and using multiple ballot versions in the general election; improperly tested voting machines during the primary and general elections; used incorrect ballots in the general election, which necessitated hand recounts; and caused a significant undercount of votes. 

As laid out by state law, Gordon was not tasked with deciding whether to unilaterally remove Hadlock from office. Rather, he was required to determine whether to recommend that the attorney general seek the clerk’s removal in district court.

“Although I recognize that Clerk Hadlock made many serious mistakes in the 2024 Weston County elections, her actions do not rise to the level of misconduct or malfeasance, as I understand the meaning of those terms in this situation,” Gordon wrote in his decision. “I do not believe there is a clear path to proving guilt.”

Ahead of Gordon’s decision, Gray released the results of his office’s own investigation and recommended that Hadlock be removed from office. 

“Most importantly,” Gray wrote, “we must highlight that Clerk Hadlock’s conduct in filing a false post-election audit in contravention to Wyoming law indicates a repeated and heightened level of misconduct.”

Hadlock did not respond to WyoFile’s request for comment by publishing time.

WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.

This story was posted on Sept. 29, 2025.