The State Canvassing Board met this week to review and approve the results of the state primary election.
The board consists of Secretary of State and U.S. Representative-elect Chuck Gray, lame duck Gov. Mark Gordon, re-elected Treasurer Curt Meier and State Auditor Kristi Racines.
The director of the election division, Paul Raines, presented the board an abstract, or summary, of the precinct and write-in results. The division noted that “all 23 county clerks completed and certified the testing of voting equipment for use in the 2026 primary election.” While he declared the primary election a "success," there were some minor concerns.
In Goshen County, some ballots were misprinted; a technical issue caused side A and side B of some ballots to be printed on two different ballots instead of a single one. A recount was held, and the county clerk determined none of the misprinted ballots were handed out to voters.
Weston County also had a misprint issue, where the ballot was a “vote for one” when it should have been “vote for?? two.” This issue was also noted as resolved after a post-election audit held by that county’s canvassing board.
The state board voted on two motions approving the results of the primary.
Before the end of the meeting, Gordon asked Raines if he was aware of federal election observers active in Laramie County. Raines said his office had received an email. However, Gordon responded that other state officials had been unaware of the visit by the officials from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
“The director of Homeland Security, who in the primary election document here you're the co-host of, that she was unaware of it,” said Gordon. “The attorney general was unaware of it. The [county] clerk, I think in the back of the room, was completely unaware of it. To my knowledge, the U.S. attorney was unaware of it.”
Gordon added he had heard reports that the federal officials had acted in a capacity closer to election monitors than election observers.
Gray responded, saying that Wyoming election law allows for observers, and that a news outlet reported on the official’s plan to visit.
“I will note, in a news article, the U.S. attorney acknowledged they were working with election observers,” said Gray.
Wyoming’s U.S. Attorney Darin Smith issued a press release on Election Day saying his office was monitoring polling sites in Wyoming in coordination with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. The release did not indicate where this monitoring would occur.
A separate release from the DOJ’s Office of Public Affairs said the agency was monitoring polls in Laramie County with two Civil Rights Division attorneys. That press release also mentioned poll monitoring in Miami-Dade County, Florida.
Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee released a statement addressing the presence of the federal election observers. According to Lee, the federal officials did not offer identification to poll workers until Lee requested it. Additionally, the officials showed up at busy times and requested materials and information beyond the scope of observers, according to Lee.
“Wyoming law has no provision for election monitoring,” Lee said in a press release. “This was a poorly managed exercise and one that showed complete disregard for our state laws and administration of our elections.”
The general election is on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
