Full Breakdown
Wyoming Governor Calls DOJ Election Monitoring “Aggressive” and “Irregular”
8/28/2026, 12:42:15 AM
Background & Context
During the recent Wyoming primary elections, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) dispatched civil-rights attorneys to observe polling places. The DOJ has sent more than 80 monitors to seven states for this year’s primaries and says it will increase the presence to roughly 1,000 monitors for the upcoming midterm elections. Federal election observers are not new to Wyoming, but state officials say they were not notified in advance of the latest deployment.
Official Statements & Responses
Darin Smith, the U.S. The DOJ’s August release also noted the two-attorney team sent to Laramie County, the state’s most populous jurisdiction, as part of the monitoring effort.
Criticism & Opposition
He said he has asked the attorney general to investigate the nature of the visits. Lee said the monitors asked for training guides, inquired about new election equipment, and sought to examine tabulators—questions she said fell outside the scope of federal voting-rights statutes.
Verbatim Quotes
- “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,” — Republican Gov. Mark Gordon (Governor Gordon on the need for an investigation)
- “I’m not saying anything went wrong or anything else, and I certainly think the conduct of this election was phenomenal,” — Republican Gov. Mark Gordon (Governor Gordon affirming the overall conduct of the election)
- “To my knowledge, the U.S. Attorney was unaware of [the observers’ presence],” — Republican Gov. Mark Gordon (Governor Gordon noting the U.S. attorney’s lack of awareness)
