Weston County Clerk Becky Hadlock’s actions in the 2024 election did not meet the requirements for Gov. Mark Gordon to seek her removal from office, according to the governor’s review of formal complaints filed against the clerk late last year.
“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, which was released Friday. “I do not believe there is a clear path to proving guilt.”
An error by Hadlock caused an initial ballot miscount in her county’s results, drawing fierce criticism from Weston County voters. Eight local qualified electors submitted a complaint to the governor’s office in December, asking him to begin the process laid out in state statute for removing a county official from office. The governor received an additional formal complaint with the same allegations in January, according to his decision.
State law did not task Gordon with deciding whether to unilaterally remove Hadlock from office. Rather he was required to determine whether to recommend the attorney general seek the clerk’s removal in district court.
Gordon said two factors weighed heavily in his analysis — “the legal threshold required to constitute ‘misconduct’ or ‘malfeasance,’ and the serious nature of recommending the removal of a lawfully elected county official,” he wrote.
“The decision of who should fill a county office is best made by the people of Weston County in the next election just a little over a year away,” Gordon wrote. “Preempting that privilege without a clear and obvious showing of willfulness or intentional acts rising to the level of misconduct or malfeasance is not justifiable.”
Altogether, Hadlock faced accusations 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, according to Gordon’s letter.
“These acts were not denied by Clerk Hadlock,” Gordon wrote.
For the 2024 general election, Hadlock printed three versions of the ballot due to errors on the first two. It’s not unusual for clerks to reprint ballots to correct misprintings and other errors ahead of the election, but it became a problem when some voters were given the erroneous first and second versions.
As a result, tabulators miscounted votes in a county commission race as well as the contest for House District 1, where House Speaker Rep. Chip Neiman (R-Hulett) was running unopposed for reelection.
The initial, unofficial results for Weston County showed Neiman received 166 votes while 1,289 voters left that part of the ballot blank, also known as an undervote.
That count caught Secretary of State Chuck Gray’s attention on election night, he told the state canvassing board in November. When Hadlock didn’t answer his calls, he sent the sheriff’s office to her home.
Hadlock initially denied there was an issue, but ultimately agreed to Gray’s request that her office complete a hand tabulation of the ballots, which confirmed her mistake. The recount showed that Neiman received 1,269 votes, and the results were certified by the county canvassing board.
“I will note that in Clerk Hadlock’s interview she was not as forthcoming as I would have liked for her to be. But when confronted directly about issues and problems raised by the complainants, she did not deny the matters,” Gordon wrote. “It was disappointing that she did not appear to understand the significance of her mistakes but, again, her interview did not reveal any intent or willfulness on her part.”
Gray’s office conducted its own investigation into Hadlock and came to a different conclusion than Gordon and recommended the clerk be removed from office. In particular, Gray pointed to Hadlock’s submission of a post-election audit report to his office that included false information.
“Most importantly, 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,” Gray wrote in his referral.
Gray reiterated that concern in a Friday press release, stating that there were only two explanations.
“Our investigation found that one possibility is that Clerk Hadlock conducted her audit, finding errors in the election and then choosing to falsely assert that no errors had been found. The investigation found that the second reasonable possibility is that no audit was conducted at all,” Gray wrote. “Either one of those possibilities would suggest that she attempted to hide the problems with the conduct of the 2024 General Election. “
Gray questioned Gordon’s findings, particularly for not addressing the post-election audit in his decision. Gray also alleged the governor didn’t “conduct a rigorous analysis of the facts.”
Gordon’s analysis
Gordon wrote that his decision was “not an easy one as there were multiple mistakes committed by Clerk Hadlock and her staff.”
Three things, the governor said, tilted the scales against directing the attorney general to prosecute Hadlock’s removal.
For one, Gordon found that “no information or evidence was provided during the interviews or in the written materials submitted that supported any malicious intent on the part of Clerk Hadlock.”
The work of Hadlock and some of her staff was “sloppy and failed to pay sufficient attention to the details necessary to ensure that there were no mistakes in the election process or that the initial results were accurate,” Gordon wrote.
But there was no indication that Hadlock did so “with any intent to change or nullify the results of the votes of the people of Weston County,” he wrote.
Gordon also pointed to the Weston County Canvassing Board, which he said eventually righted the clerk’s wrongs.
“The system set up to discover, correct, and properly count votes worked here and as there are no complaints ledged against the conduct of the Weston County Canvassing Board, I have every certainty that the results certified by the County Canvassing Board are correct,” he wrote.
Lastly, Gordon highlighted Hadlock’s position as an elected official.
“For me to override the decision of the people of Weston County and direct the Attorney general to proceed with an action to remove her from office, I must believe that her actions clearly rise to the level of misconduct or malfeasance,” he wrote.
But Gordon could not confirm “any nefarious intent” on her part “to injure the electors of Weston County by manipulating the election results.”
Hadlock did not immediately respond to WyoFile’s request for comment Friday.
This is a breaking news story and may be updated.
Glad I stumbled across this.
Given this was an uncontested race that the error impacted, it would be hard to prove any intent to influence the outcome. Yes it was a big mistake and probably not handled the correct way. I’m guessing (a case of possible embarrassment of running uncontested and a supermajority not voting for you? LOL) if it hadn’t been a Freedom Caucus member it would have been that big of a deal. But given all the “errors” that are currently happening on the national level, like the DOGE web site misinformation, DOGE firing people “mistakenly”, deleting their contact info and trying to hire them back…yet no one getting fired over that, this is a pretty minor issue.
I believe that the governor did the correct thing in leaving believe it in the voters hands. Lessons learned by the clerk and her staff are a long term benefit to the citizens of Weston County. Even if she does not run again or is defeated in an upcoming election, the knowledge will remain in the clerk’s office. It also has provided information to all clerks in the state about the how a little mistake can snowball into something significant if not addressed properly. I say lesson learned and it should be up to the voters.
Personally, I feel that she should be fired for incompetence. I guess now it’s up to the voters to decide.