Editor's Note: On April 9, Becky Hadlock resigned from her position as Weston County clerk effective immediately. In a letter addressed to Weston County commissioners and the county's Republican Party, she said after "considering what is best for our County and our community as well as what the public needs and deserves, I have decided that I must step away from my position as County Clerk. Instead, I will be turning my attention to addressing personal matters, including the criminal charges filed against me, which have become a major distraction to the County and its people, on my own time." To replace Hadlock, the Weston County Republican Party will recommend three people and the Weston County commission will select one.
Authorities arrested Weston County Clerk Becky Hadlock on Wednesday after a special prosecutor brought additional felony-level charges against the embattled local official for her conduct related to the 2024 general election, new court records show.
State investigators found evidence Hadlock knowingly filed a false post-election audit that did not show any errors, according to an affidavit signed by a Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation special agent. A subsequent audit of the same ballots revealed 21 errors.
Investigators also spoke with two people who said they overheard Hadlock describe such audits as “stupid.”
The clerk now faces one count of violating the election code as an official and one count of falsifying election documents. Both are felonies and can be punishable by not more than five years in prison.
Hadlock’s arrest comes less than a week before she is scheduled to stand trial in another case to determine whether she should be removed from office for acts of misconduct and malfeasance. Those include allegations that she filed a false audit report after the 2024 general election and defied a legislative subpoena. The allegations stem from her handling of an election-night error that led to a dramatic miscount in the uncontested race for House District 1.
The additional charges were expected. Hadlock’s attorney, Ryan Semerad, filed a pretrial memorandum last week, disclosing he’d been told by a special prosecutor that such filings would come some time before trial.
The new charges mark a third case against Hadlock. The second began in November when the Natrona County District Attorney’s office charged Hadlock with a misdemeanor for failing to appear at a legislative committee meeting in Casper after she was subpoenaed by state lawmakers.
Natrona County District Attorney Dan Itzen is acting as a special prosecutor in the case to determine whether she should be removed from office. He’s doing so after Gov. Mark Gordon directed the Wyoming Attorney General’s office in January to seek Hadlock’s removal from office following a verified complaint from Weston County voters.
On the night of 2024’s general election, Hadlock caused an initial ballot miscount in her county’s results after using the wrong ballots. That led to a dramatic undercount in the vote for Speaker of the House Chip Neiman, who was running unopposed.
A hand count ultimately sorted out the results, as did a second post-election audit. However, the problem remained unresolved for many local voters, specifically those who had concerns that the post-election audit Hadlock submitted ought to have identified the miscount earlier in the process. Several Weston County voters asked the Wyoming State Canvassing Board to hold off on certifying election results amid their concerns.
The post-election audit was also one reason lawmakers asked Hadlock to appear at a legislative hearing. When she declined their invite, citing a scheduling conflict, the Legislature subpoenaed Hadlock. When she did not appear at the September 2025 meeting, lawmakers pursued criminal charges.
The post-election audit is also at the heart of the charges filed Wednesday against Hadlock.
“The investigation into the 2024 Weston County General Election reveals that County Clerk Becky Hadlock … knowingly filed a false post-election audit,” according to an affidavit of probable cause signed by Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Special Agent Matt Waldock, who investigated the case.
“Despite receiving explicit instructions from the Secretary of State’s office to visually compare ballot images to the Cast Vote Record … Hadlock certified on the initial post-election audit that zero errors existed among 75 sampled ballots,” Waldock wrote. “This was after Secretary of State Chuck Gray expressed his concerns with the 2024 general Election results, specifically House District One.”
The affidavit details Waldock’s investigation, which was set into motion after Weston County Sheriff Brian Colvard asked DCI to investigate Hadlock for violating election laws. Colvard became aware of the initial miscount when Gray contacted his office on election night after the secretary could not get in touch with Hadlock.
Waldock interviewed Platte County Clerk Malcolm Ervin as part of the investigation in an attempt “to gain knowledge in the election process and, in general, the requirements of the position of County Clerks,” the affidavit states.
Waldock also spoke with Gray, who told the investigator about his conversations with Hadlock that ultimately led to a hand count of the ballots at the county canvassing board.
Gray “indicated that the post-election audit should have caught any issues in the Weston County races because it is a visual audit of selected ballots,” Waldock wrote. Gray told Waldock the “inaccurate post election audit results” were either the result of Hadlock not conducting the audit “or it was done falsely.”
Waldock also interviewed Weston County GOP Chairwoman Karen Drost and Weston County Deputy Clerk Amber Green, both of whom were involved with poll worker training. Drost and Green “both heard Hadlock characterize mandatory audits as ‘stupid,’” according to the affidavit.
Semerad declined to comment for this story.
This is a breaking news story and may be updated.
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