Wyoming governor requests investigation into activity of DOJ monitors during primary

Wyoming's attorney general is investigating how two U.S. Department of Justice officials questioned poll workers in the state during its Aug. 18 primary

FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- Wyoming's attorney general is investigating how two U.S. Department of Justice officials monitored poll workers and observed voters in the state's most populous county during the Aug. 18 primary, a spokesperson for Republican Gov. Mark Gordon said Friday.

Gordon called the monitors' behavior “a bit aggressive” and “irregular" in an otherwise routine meeting to confirm the election results in the mostly rural and Republican state.

“I feel very strongly about the federal government coming in and taking our guns. I don’t like that. I don’t like the federal government coming in and taking our votes, either,” Gordon said at the meeting Wednesday.

Gordon spokesperson Amy Edmonds on Friday confirmed the investigation by Attorney General Keith Kautz, who was appointed by the governor.

Voting rights groups have raised concern about President Donald Trump's Justice Department shifting priorities away from enforcing civil rights laws with respect to voting. Trump instead has directed federal prosecutors to search for fraud in the 2020 election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden .

Trump has meanwhile been more assertive about influencing the department, including encouraging investigations of political opponents, in his second term.

Approaching the end of his second and final term in office, Gordon has publicly expressed little if any previous criticism of federal polices under Trump.

The monitoring happened in southeastern Wyoming's Laramie County, home to the state capital, Cheyenne.

The monitors arrived soon after polls opened at 7 a.m. on primary day and said they intended to interview voters while assessing compliance with federal civil rights and voting rights laws, Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee said in a statement.

Lee said her office didn't allow interviews to be conducted in polling places and denied the monitors permission to do so. The monitors questioned local officials about “the nature, length and timing of poll worker training," Lee said.

“Monitors requested training guides, asked how our new election equipment was acquired and wanted to examine our tabulators,” Lee said.

Wyoming law allows only election observation by certified poll watchers who monitor registration and turnout, Lee said.

“This was a poorly managed exercise and one that showed complete disregard for our state laws and administration of our elections,” Lee said in the statement.