Wyoming lawyer files complaint against Gray for providing voter data to feds

A Cheyenne lawyer has filed a complaint with the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office alleging that Secretary of State Chuck Gray violated state law by sharing sensitive voter information with the federal government. George Powers, a retired attorney who previously won a public records lawsuit against the Wyoming Department of Education, is asking for a special prosecutor to investigate Gray’s conduct.

In August, Gray gave the U.S. Department of Justice the driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers of every registered Wyoming voter. Wyoming was the first state to comply with the DOJ’s request, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Gray has defended the decision, saying he acted in close consultation with the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office.

Powers’ complaint centers on a state law that explicitly keeps certain voter information confidential. The statute says election records containing Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers and other personally identifiable information “are not public records and shall be kept confidential.” Powers argues Gray knowingly violated that law.

“When Secretary Gray authorized and directed the officers and staff of the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office to release an unredacted voter registry list to the DOJ, he knew that the list contained personally identifiable information about the registered voters of Wyoming, which was confidential and not public records,” Powers wrote.

Powers also questions how much legal guidance Gray actually received from the attorney general’s office. He submitted a public records request for documentation of the “close consultation” Gray has cited, but wrote that his request produced only redacted emails scheduling a phone call and veiled references to a single email from Attorney General Keith Kautz. Gray has withheld substantive information under attorney-client privilege.

Powers is asking Kautz to recuse his office from handling the complaint, citing a conflict of interest. “The likelihood that the Attorney General and the office may have previously undertaken Secretary Gray’s representation in connection with the DOJ’s requests, coupled with the possibility that they may have to testify as witnesses in the event of an investigation or prosecution, creates an unavoidable conflict of interest,” he wrote.

Gray dismissed the complaint as political theater. “The radical Left and the media will stop at nothing to undermine our work to ensure election integrity and security,” he said in a statement. “George Powers’ latest diatribe is nothing more than Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

The Attorney General’s Office did not respond to a request for comment. It remains unclear whether Kautz will appoint a special prosecutor or dismiss the complaint. Powers previously won a public records lawsuit against the Wyoming Department of Education in 2024. The complaint comes as Gray faces a crowded Republican primary for Wyoming’s U.S. House seat.