Power Grab/Fire anyone who can stop him
The Justice Department sent monitors to Wyoming’s primary, and the county clerk says they asked to examine the tabulators
Two Civil Rights Division attorneys arrived at Laramie County polls on August 18, 2026 without notice; Wyoming’s Republican governor later called their conduct “irregular” and asked the state attorney general to investigate.
What happened
On August 18, 2026, the Justice Department announced its Civil Rights Division would monitor polling sites in Florida and Wyoming, including 2 attorneys in Laramie County. The pair arrived soon after polls opened, County Clerk Debra Lee said, without notice, and said they intended to interview voters.
The attorneys “requested training guides, asked how our new election equipment was acquired and wanted to examine our tabulators,” Lee said. Her office refused the voter interviews and the inspection. A DOJ official told her an email notice “may have gone to the wrong address.”
At the August 26 canvass, Republican Gov. Mark Gordon called the conduct “a bit aggressive” and “irregular” and asked Attorney General Keith Kautz to investigate. The governor belongs to Trump’s party, and the monitors were sent by Trump’s Justice Department. The county had already refused the interviews and the inspection of its tabulators.
Who benefited
The Justice Department got federal attorneys inside a Wyoming polling operation and a look at what the county would hand over. The county refused the interviews and the tabulator inspection, so the department gained no access to equipment. It did gain the ability to ask, on election day, with no advance notice.
Who wanted something
The monitors wanted training guides, the purchase history of the new election equipment, and access to the tabulators. They also wanted to interview voters. Those are requests about how Laramie County runs its vote count, made at the polls on election day.
Who lost out
Laramie County’s election office had to turn away federal attorneys during voting. Clerk Debra Lee said they came without notice. Voters at the polls were potential interview subjects. The cost fell on a county clerk’s office in the middle of a primary, with a “wrong address” explanation for the missing notice.
Why it matters
A Republican governor asked his own state’s attorney general to investigate the Justice Department’s conduct at a Wyoming polling place. Gordon described the monitors’ behavior as “irregular.” The county refused every request, the Justice Department said its notice may have gone to the wrong address, and the first federal reach toward a state’s tabulators drew a state inquiry request.
Sources U.S. Department of Justice (primary)APWyoFileThe Washington Post