Gordon was right to shut down Gray’s proposed rules

Gov. Mark Gordon recently rejected a proposed rule change to Wyoming’s election laws submitted by Secretary of State Chuck Gray. The Wyoming Legislature’s Management Council determined earlier that the rule likely breached the executive branch’s authority.

In a letter explaining his decision to shut down Gray’s proposal, Gordon defended Wyoming’s current approach to elections. “The State’s election code functions well, and the countless hours spent by volunteers, election judges, canvassing boards, county clerks, town clerks, your office, and numerous others have ensured for decades that Wyomingites can trust the state’s election results,” the governor wrote. “While there may always be room to improve Wyoming’s election laws, this responsibility lies in the purview of the legislative branch.”

Well said, Gov. Gordon, for three distinct reasons.

First, Gray did indeed overstep his authority in attempting to use rule making for a statutory change that can only rightfully happen within the legislative branch. Gray has brought many of these election law changes to the Legislature, proving he understands where the proper authority lies. Apparently, he decided that when he can’t get his way with the Legislature, it’s OK to circumvent proper procedure and attempt to change Wyoming’s laws through bureaucratic rulemaking.  

A D.C. “swamp” move, some might say, and a bold one from someone who previously served in the Wyoming Legislature. Gray should know better. 

Secondly, if Gray wants to ensure our citizens have confidence in our elections he should not mislead citizens about the nature and outcome of them. The best way to instill confidence is to tell the truth. 

As Gordon said, our elections are and have been secure, and our election codes work. The truth is that Wyoming has little to no significant election fraud. While Gray would like to make nebulous arguments to try and justify this rule change, saying things like, and I’m paraphrasing, “there could be more fraud, we just don’t know about yet,” is misleading and irresponsible coming from the man in charge of our elections statewide. 

Gray’s efforts are also a redundant and inefficient use of public funds. He urged the governor to support a proof of residency requirement for Wyoming citizens registering to vote. 

But Wyoming has already implemented a proof of identity requirement that calls for presenting a state-issued driver’s license or other legal forms of identification before registering to vote. This is a sensible idea but let me be clear, not one that is needed to correct some great voter fraud epidemic in Wyoming.  

Given the Wyoming Department of Transportation requires not one, but two forms of proof of residency before issuing a Wyoming driver’s license, clearly the state is enforcing residency requirements in our election laws and practice. 

What about making sure voters are U.S. citizens? While Wyoming driver’s licenses do not differentiate between those who present a U.S. birth certificate and residents with a foreign passport and U.S. visa, that could be solved within the Department of Transportation, or the Legislature could step in with other legislative fixes, but again, not to solve a massive voter fraud epidemic.   

But none of these practical changes are likely good enough for Gray. 

He has repeatedly pushed for more onerous changes to election laws without offering any real examples of systemic voter fraud in Wyoming to justify his push.

We should be asking Gray: “Where’s the proof? Where are the adjudicated cases in Wyoming that point to serious problems in the administration of our elections?” As the chief officer over elections, he has a duty and a responsibility to provide that to the citizens of this state.

Perhaps a way to accomplish this would be to establish, through a bill, the Wyoming Voter Fraud Database. A platform created and maintained by the secretary of state’s office that would publish every convicted case of voter fraud in the state. Recent Wyofile reporting pointed readers to a similar nationwide database kept at the Heritage Foundation.  

It would seem proper and transparent for the secretary of state to show the citizens of Wyoming actual proof of the amount and severity of voter fraud in the Cowboy State. So far, he has cited only one case in an election year when, according to his own office, voter turnout topped 400,000 between the primary and general elections.

And finally, Wyoming citizens should look not to Gray, but to their local county clerks for information about the amount and severity of any supposed election fraud in our state. These men and women, who oversee our elections while ensuring our voter databases are in proper order, are absolute rock stars.  

I have known of clerks who have gone to a voter’s door to verify their eligibility, and who work ceaselessly to ensure they have all of the tools needed to comply with Wyoming’s election laws and administer our elections freely and fairly. 

These are the folks, our local clerks, we should all be talking to if we want to understand more about how Wyoming’s elections work.  

Gray would do well to learn from our county clerks instead of trying to dictate to them a scenario that simply hasn’t proven out on the ground in our counties. 

But the rest of us can certainly let our clerks know how much they are appreciated. This fall, during election time, be sure to thank your clerk, as well as the army of volunteers and staffers who spend long days at the polls ensuring our sacred right to vote happens. 

As the daughter of a long-time election worker, I could not be more proud of the work my mother did for years, taking time from her own job to work the polls in Kansas at every election. These are the real heroes.

The reality in all of this is that these new voting requirements are being pushed by the very people who foment unprovable theories (anyone remember the Venezuelan interference hoax?) about the nature of our past elections. 

Theories such as stolen elections, massive voter fraud, foreign election interference and others continue to proliferate. Yet, none of them have been proven by our justice system to have changed an election outcome and none of them can be proven to have done so to this day. (I wish I had a dollar for every time the My Pillow guy or Kari Lake has claimed they’re about to bring the goods.)

Even those who pushed films like “2000 Mules,” which Gray introduced to his supporters while running for his current office, have been unable to back up their slick claims. The lead organization spotlighted in the movie, True the Vote, has been unable to provide, in a court of law, any real evidence of voter fraud to back up what they said in the movie. 

And yet here we are, being bombarded by misrepresentations and outright lies by election deniers across the country, all to satisfy a segment of citizens who live under the false belief that voter fraud is happening at a consequential level. (Let me be clear, voter fraud does happen, we know this because people get caught. Evidence exists, and is presented in court.)

You want to change laws because you believe there’s rampant election fraud in Wyoming? 

Start by proving it. 

The rest of us need to pull our boots on, push back against misinformation and ask the hard questions.