Becky Hadlock says the state doesn’t have grounds to remove her from office

Weston County Clerk Becky Hadlock asked a court Tuesday to dismiss the Wyoming Attorney General’s effort to remove her from office, arguing the state hasn’t shown evidence of the misconduct or malfeasance required for removal.

“The chain of events leading to the filing of this petition is tortured and petty,” Hadlock’s attorney Ryan Semerad wrote in the filing.

Hadlock oversaw the November 2024 general election in Weston County, where faulty ballots intermingled with proper ballots and skewed two races in which candidates were running unopposed. She took accountability at the time and hosted a hand recount to correct the errors before the election was certified. She also filed a post-election audit in which she failed to detect 21 errors—an issue Secretary of State Chuck Gray has cast as potentially fraudulent in multiple public statements.

The current civil action stems from a governor’s investigation following complaints by Weston County electors. Gov. Mark Gordon recommended Hadlock’s removal last month, and Attorney General Keith Kautz filed the removal petition. Semerad argues Kautz has failed to show misconduct or malfeasance, and that Hadlock “will ultimately be entitled to judgment as a matter of law.”

Semerad’s filing details Hadlock’s version of the 16-month controversy. Before the 2024 election, the county contracted with Election Systems & Software for ballot printing and programming. Hadlock noticed a ballot proof error—the spacing for House District 1 was wrong because it lacked language indicating the office was for a two-year term, skewing the marking bubbles. She ordered corrected ballots. Another error went undetected until later: two Republican candidates running unopposed for two at-large county commission seats were listed in the same order, causing votes to be mixed on election day.

On election night, Gray told Hadlock she and her team were excused. She went home and to bed around 10 p.m. An unknown number rang at midnight; she ignored it. Later, Weston County Sheriff Bryan Colvard called, saying Gray had tried to reach her. Hadlock called Gray, who expressed concern about a large undervote in Neiman’s race. Gray said he’d call back but didn’t that night. Hadlock went to bed around 3 or 4 a.m.

The next morning, Gray called Platte County Clerk Malcolm Ervin instead. Later, Hadlock, Ervin and an ES&S representative joined Gray on a call. Blow explained that “previous ballot versions” had been introduced at voting sites. Hadlock decided to conduct a hand recount and postponed her election canvass date to Nov. 8, 2024.

Gray sent Hadlock a list of 75 ballot numbers for a post-election audit. She sent her audit results around 4:10 p.m. Nov. 6, 2024, but later acknowledged she conducted it incorrectly, attributing the error to “divided attention” while juggling the undervote, the ES&S report, managing the hand recount and postponing the canvass. She conducted another audit Nov. 12 and submitted corrected results that morning.

Semerad argues the faulty Nov. 6 audit couldn’t have impacted any race because Hadlock had already decided to conduct a full hand recount. He also contends that her nonappearance at a legislative meeting last September pertained to her capacity as an individual, not her duties as clerk, and shouldn’t be grounds for removal. “The State’s allegations amount to mere negligence or technical violations of a statutory duty, which are insufficient grounds upon which a court may find a county officer guilty of ‘misconduct or malfeasance in office,'” he wrote.