GOP governor sounds alarm over Trump DOJ’s 'aggressive' election observers

U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks to the media on the day of a NATO leaders' summit in Ankara, Turkey, July 8, 2026. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

The Republican governor of deep-red Wyoming has sounded off about “aggressive” behavior by Department of Justice officials who were observing recent state elections. According to the local news outlet WyoFile, “As the state canvassing board met Wednesday in Cheyenne to certify the results of Wyoming’s primary elections, Gov. Mark Gordon raised concerns about what he described as ‘aggressive’ and ‘irregular’ conduct by federal officials observing last week’s primary elections.” The actions of federal observers also prompted concern from Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee.

“To my knowledge, the U.S. Attorney was unaware of [the observers’ presence],” said Gordon. “And it sounded like the behavior of the observers was a bit aggressive.” He added, “It just was irregular, and I have asked the attorney general to start looking into, you know, kind of the nature of the visits and all that sort of stuff.”

According to WyoFile, “Federal election observers aren’t new to Wyoming, or other states across the country. However, the Trump administration says it’s ramping up those efforts and planning to dispatch about 1,000 staff members across the country in November, when voters will decide who controls Congress. The monitoring follows the Justice Department’s efforts to obtain states’ voter data, which it successfully procured from Wyoming in 2025 with the assistance of Secretary of State Chuck Gray. Last week, however, local and state officials were not made aware of federal observers, Gordon said at Wednesday’s meeting, pointing to the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security, the Wyoming Attorney General and the Laramie County Clerk’s Office as being out of the loop.” Gray pushed back against the Governor’s assertion, saying announcements were made.

“Two Department of Justice attorneys were dispatched to Laramie County as part of a ‘monitoring initiative,” read a department press release published on Aug. 18, Wyoming’s primary election day. “This monitoring initiative is aimed at promoting transparency and an open flow of communication between poll observers and election monitors.”

WyoFile reports that Gordon said he wasn’t “objecting to the observers,” but that “their behavior seemed to exceed what the authority that Congress had given them was.” That behavior, he said, is why he’s asked the attorney general to “examine that.”

“I’m not saying anything went wrong or anything else, and I certainly think the conduct of this election was phenomenal,” Gordon added. “I feel very strongly about federal government coming in and taking our guns. I don’t like that. And I don’t like federal government coming in and taking our votes either.”

The chief election officer for Wyoming’s most populous county, Clerk Lee, was more alarmed by the federal observers’ actions. As she explained in a statement, “Two individuals, identifying themselves as DOJ election monitors, informed our poll worker that they were here to monitor Wyoming’s Primary Elections. They did not offer their credentials until I requested they do so.” She says they also asked questions that seemed “outside the scope of federal voting rights laws. They included questions about the nature, length, and timing of poll worker training. Monitors requested training guides, asked how our new election equipment was acquired, and wanted to examine our tabulators.” When she learned that the monitors also intended to interview voters “to assess compliance with federal civil rights and voting rights law,” she refused. “We do not allow interviews to be conducted in polling places,” Lee explained. “This was a poorly managed exercise and one that showed complete disregard for our state laws and administration of our elections.”

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