Dear Gov. Mark Gordon, Secretary of State Chuck Gray and Attorney General Keith Kautz,
Before taking office, each of you swore an oath to support, protect and defend the constitutions of the U.S. and Wyoming. Both documents make clear that state and local officials, not the federal government, run and administer elections.
Opinion
We write to you as everyday Wyomingites. Three of us have served as election judges in numerous election cycles, and we can attest to the security and integrity of our state’s elections. We also write to you as members of Powder River Basin Resource Council, a group of people whose views span the ideological spectrum. Across our political differences, we come together around a shared commitment to the democratic principles and practices that give Wyomingites the power to determine our shared future. Nothing is more fundamental to that power than every eligible voter’s right to cast a ballot free of intimidation and interference, and to have that ballot counted.
We invite each of you to join us in this shared commitment to free and democratic elections by issuing a statement before Election Day that assures Wyomingites that you have full confidence in our state’s elections, election administrators and election results. Further, we ask that you state clearly that you will, if need be, use the power of your office to stand up to any outside political effort, including from the federal government, that seeks to disrupt the coming elections and intimidate voters and election workers, which would violate both constitutions you swore an oath to.
Our request reflects an increasingly clear need for state officials to make such a statement. The federal government has already made numerous attempts this year to meddle in elections. One such attempt occurred right here in Wyoming during our primary elections, when U.S. Department of Justice observers appeared at a polling location in Cheyenne, trying to interview voters and access voting machines. They acted in ways that Gov. Gordon described as “aggressive, unexpected, disruptive — certainly didn’t seem to show respect for the state.” Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee said the DOJ observers showed a “complete disregard for our state laws and administration of our elections.”
“I feel very strongly about the federal government coming in and taking our guns — I don’t like that,” Gordon said. “And I don’t like the federal government coming in and taking our votes, either.”
We applaud and thank the governor for making this statement, and we ask that he issue another statement before the elections warning the federal government to stay out of our elections and reiterating his commitment to protecting our vote.
Among Republican leaders who have stood up to federal meddling in state elections is Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, the state’s chief election official who has refused to comply with a DOJ order to hand over the state’s entire, unredacted voter database. Henderson has rightly argued that the order has no federal legal basis and violates Utah data privacy laws. Even as she now faces a lawsuit from the DOJ, which a federal judge dismissed last week and the DOJ quickly vowed to appeal, she has held fast to the oath she took to the U.S. and Utah constitutions.
“Utahns can be assured that my office will always follow the Constitution and the law, protect voters’ rights, and administer free and fair elections,” Henderson said in response to the DOJ lawsuit.
Also worthy of applause is Attorney General Kautz, who, alongside his Republican counterparts in Idaho, North Dakota, Utah and 11 other states, refused to back the president’s anti-mail-in voting executive order, knowing the chaos it would unleash and the federal interference it would enable in their states’ elections. We also thank him for his legal opinion released this week that states that any monitors the department sends to Wyoming’s polling locations must remain outside, 100 yards from the polls and must not interview voters without their consent, in accordance with state law. Lee says the DOJ has informed her they will comply with that opinion.
At a time when the president himself has urged his supporters to “cheat like hell” in the coming elections, and the Department of Justice has told Wyoming it will again have observers at our polls, we sincerely hope that Secretary of State Gray finds the courage and leadership that the governor and attorney general have exemplified. We hope that all three of you issue a public statement before the election that shows or confirms your shared commitment to protecting our vote and are united in holding the DOJ accountable to the agreement it made to respect Wyoming’s voting laws.
