Wyoming
Wyoming lawyer files complaint against Gray for providing voter data to feds – WyoFile
A Cheyenne lawyer wants a special prosecutor to take on a complaint filed with the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office against Secretary of State Chuck Gray for sharing sensitive voter data with the federal government.
In a complaint sent Monday to Wyoming Attorney General Keith Kautz, private attorney George Powers alleges that Gray “knowingly and willfully violated his statutory duty to maintain the personally identifiable information in [Wyoming’s voter roll list,] as required by [state law.]”
Pointing to a “clear and immediate conflict of interest,” Powers asked Kautz to refer the complaint “and any further investigation and prosecution … to an independent, disinterested officer, such as a district court judge, for the appointment of a qualified, independent special prosecutor.”
Gray maintains Powers’ complaint is nothing more than an attempt to undermine his office’s work.
“The radical Left and the media will stop at nothing to undermine our work to ensure election integrity and security, and George Powers latest diatribe in coordination with media outlets like WyoFile is nothing more than Trump Derangement Syndrome, clothed in an attempt to use lawfare and the leftwing media to attack my actions on election integrity,” he said in a Tuesday statement.
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 — a move that later drew criticism from Wyoming Democrats and the League of Women Voters. Gray has stood by the decision, maintaining it was made in consultation with the Wyoming Attorney General’s office.
The federal government’s request for election records was not unique to Wyoming, but rather part of a nationwide effort by the Trump administration to obtain states’ voter rolls. Wyoming was the first state to comply, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a left-leaning think tank. The organization has tracked states’ responses, which have mostly included either providing publicly available versions of their voter registration lists — i.e., data sets without sensitive information — or altogether declining to provide such records.
While the Trump administration has argued its efforts are intended to keep elections secure, critics have pointed to the U.S. Constitution, which explicitly tasks states, not the federal government, with conducting elections.
Gray addressed Powers’ complaint on social media Monday and sent a similar message to WyoFile when asked for comment.
“I stand by my work with the Trump Administration to advance election integrity. I have worked to maintain compliance with the law and these actions have been carried out in close consultation with the Attorney General,” Gray wrote in a Facebook post. “As the chief election official of the state of Wyoming, I fully support the Trump Administration’s work to advance election integrity, and will continue to advance election integrity.”
Gray also accused Powers of “attempting to use his law license to threaten and intimidate” his office for its “work on election integrity.”
Powers told WyoFile that as of midday Tuesday he had not received a response from the attorney general. Powers is a retired attorney, who, according to his biography, focused primarily on civil trial and appellate litigation in Wyoming with a focus on medical malpractice, insurance claims and railroad litigation. In 2024, he was plaintiff in a successful public records lawsuit against the Wyoming Department of Education
How we got here
The Justice Department first asked Gray in a June 2025 letter to “Please send us Wyoming’s current statewide voter registration list.”
“Please include both active and inactive voters,” according to the letter, signed by Maureen Riordan, acting chief of the Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section.
Records indicate Gray first exported a publicly available voter registry list in July. However, it did not meet the Justice Department’s demands, according to an Aug. 14 letter from the DOJ, wherein the agency asked Gray for additional information.
“The electronic copy of the statewide [voter registry list] must contain all fields, including the registrant’s full name, date of birth, residential address, his or her state driver’s license number of the last four digits of the registrant’s social security number.” (Emphasis in the letter.)
Such information was needed to assess Wyoming’s compliance with federal law, the letter stated. Two weeks later, Gray complied, according to an Aug. 28 letter.
“Upon review of the provisions cited in your letter, and discussion of the applicable provisions of the Civil Rights Act with the Wyoming Attorney General, we agree that disclosure of the requested records is proper under the Civil Rights Act,” Gray wrote. “With your assurances that the federal privacy protections, including the application of Section 304 of the Civil Rights Act, apply to these records, we anticipate that the Department of Justice will maintain the confidentiality of these records in accordance with Wyoming law.”
The complaint
At the center of Powers’ complaint is a Wyoming law that specifies the confidentiality of certain election records.
According to the statute, “election records containing social security numbers, portions of social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, birth dates, telephone numbers, tribal identification card numbers, e-mail addresses and other personally identifiable information other than names, gender, addresses, unique identifying numbers generated by the state and party affiliations are not public records and shall be kept confidential.”
Powers argues that Gray may have broken this law by sharing confidential records with the federal government.
“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 pushed back on Gray’s assertion that the Justice Department’s request for confidential voter information was lawful under federal election law, including the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act.
More specifically, Powers wrote, Wyoming is exempt from the National Voter Registration Act, while the Help America Vote Act does not contain any provision that would require a state to disclose confidential information contained in its voter rolls.
In its correspondence with Gray, the Justice Department argued the Civil Rights Act of 1960 empowered the federal government to “an electronic copy of Wyoming’s complete and current” voter registration list.”
Powers challenged that argument as well.
“The DOJ had no authority or other legal basis permitting it to use the CRA to bootstrap its demand for confidential voter information for an alleged investigation of non-existent claims under completely different statutes, such as the HAVA or NVRA,” Powers wrote.
That should have been clear to Gray, Powers argues.
“When confronted by such a contrived misuse of the law, Secretary Gray’s duty under Wyoming law could not have been clearer,” Powers wrote. “All he had to do was to follow the state law which he was sworn to uphold.”
‘Close consultation’
The complaint also questions to what extent Gray consulted the Wyoming Attorney General before releasing the records to the federal government.
Powers, according to the complaint, submitted a public records request earlier this year asking for records “addressing or assessing whether the transfer of voter information records containing personally identifiable information in response to the USDOJ request would constitute a violation of [state law,] including any legal opinions that may have been obtained, if the [Wyoming Attorney General’s office] considered or relief upon any such opinion in making its decision.”
However, Powers wrote, his request “has produced scant documentation about any alleged ‘close consultation’” with the attorney general’s office.
Instead, Powers wrote, Gray has “produced a handful of redacted email communications to schedule a telephone call between” himself, his staff “and members of the attorney general’s office,” and made “veiled references to an email from Attorney General Kautz that he has described only as an ‘ancillary’ communication.”
“Secretary Gray has withheld all substantive information relating any questions or answers that may have been exchanged in these communications on a claim of attorney-client privilege,” Powers wrote in the complaint.
State law specifies that “complaints that the secretary of state violated the election code shall be filed with the attorney general for investigation and prosecution.” But Powers is asking the attorney general to recuse his office from handling the complaint.
Regardless of Powers’ question regarding that office’s involvement in Gray’s decision, the complaint states, “the likelihood that the Attorney General and the [Wyoming Attorney General’s 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.”
The Wyoming Attorney General’s Office did not respond to WyoFile’s request by publication time.
Wyoming
Hoping to draw Colorado interest, construction begins at $80M betting facility in Laramie County
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Foundation work is beginning this week on Wyoming’s next horse betting and gaming house.
The $80 million Wyoming Downs facility in Laramie County, one of two the company is investing in over the next couple of years, is poised to be one of the largest facilities of its kind in the state. The company is aiming for a spring 2027 opening.
The facility will host upwards of 600 historic horse racing machines, Wyoming’s largest TV wall, multiple dining options and more across 58,000 square feet. More land was bought for future hotel development. Commuters driving between Cheyenne and the Colorado border can see clearly from Interstate 25 the expansive development.
That placement along the travel corridor is purposeful, Wyoming Downs and 307 Horse Racing President Kyle Ridgeway said.
“I think that the targeted consumer for this is from Colorado or from the Front Range,” Ridgeway said. “I anticipate we’re going to have plenty of people from Cheyenne come down here to play and enjoy the amenities, but when you look at 600,000 people within a 30-minute drive, that’s what justifies this investment and brings all that tax revenue in from another state, which is fantastic.
“We don’t get the opportunity to do that in Wyoming very often.”
There is still plenty to offer Cheyenne residents besides the facility’s amenities. Ridgeway said in a speech to attendees at the project’s groundbreaking Tuesday, June 2, that more than 150 permanent jobs will be supported by the facility on top of the dozens supported by the companies’ corporate offices and the 400-plus involved in the project’s construction.
Groathouse Construction, a Wyoming business, is the project’s general contractor. Wyoming Downs said it believes putting the project in local hands also helps keep the project uniquely Wyoming-focused.
Ridgeway added the facilities have already proven themselves to be effective tax revenue generators for the local governments. The Wyoming Gaming Commission’s 2025 report, released in late May, shows bettors wagered $2.49 billion on historic horse racing machines last year, a jump from the $2.11 billion wagered in 2024.
Wyoming Downs facilities generate roughly $25 million in taxes annually across the state, and Ridgeway estimated after the ceremony that the upcoming $80 million facility alone will generate an additional $3 million for Laramie County once the property has been in operation for a few years.
Horse betting sites have been increasingly popping up across Wyoming this decade. The Wyoming Downs location will be Cheyenne’s second large-scale horse betting facility since 2024, when the 30,000-square-foot Horse Palace at Swan Ranch opened. Ridgeway said Wyoming Downs is still offering something fresh for tourists and residents.
“This’ll have amenities that Swan Ranch doesn’t have, including the largest TV wall in Wyoming and a pretty super-cool sports viewing area with a restaurant and just a level of finish and class that I don’t think Wyoming has quite seen yet with these types of properties,” he said.
Ridgeway said he thinks resident fatigue with these facilities isn’t as strong as it appears, especially given the tourism benefits of off-track betting.
“Wyoming’s been built on mineral extraction and tourism, and what this is is a touristic facility. I’m not aware of any particular pushback about this specific facility outside of — you see random social media comments where people say, ‘Oh, another gambling facility.’ But where this is located, I think people in Cheyenne have generally been supportive of,” he said.
The Laramie County facility will be just one part of a larger project Wyoming Downs is working on over the next few years. Construction will begin in early 2027 on a similar facility in Evanston looking to draw in Utah and western Colorado crowds.
Some of the company’s current facilities, notably in Casper, Cheyenne and Rock Springs, will see millions poured into renovations as well. New smaller-scale parlors will also go up in Gillette and Green River this year, according to an information packet provided by the company.
More details will come as the construction process develops, Ridgeway said. Details about amenities, such as what the complex’s dining options will look like, remain undisclosed, though Ridgeway promised that options will be “excellent.”
“We haven’t made final selections on what the options are, but we have a number of different options on the table that we’re considering for what we want to offer for the customers,” Ridgeway said. “You have to have something that’s high quality for where this is located. If somebody’s going to drive 25 or 35, or even 45 minutes to come here, they got to be able to sit down and have a quality meal.”
For more information as it becomes available and to learn more about Wyoming Downs facilities and 307 Horse Racing‘s events and offerings, see the companies’ websites. Renderings for the upcoming Cheyenne facility commissioned by the company are available for viewing below.
Related
GILLETTE, Wyo. — Two of the Republican candidates for Wyoming governor, Megan Degenfelder and Brent Bien, went head to head in Campbell County this evening. They both highlighted differences in some areas but agreed on energy, public lands, government oversight, abortion and election security.
Degenfelder, Wyoming’s superintendent of public instruction, introduced herself as “a Wyoming ranch kid whose parents clawed their way into the middle class” and said she believes Wyoming is “worth fighting for” because she believes the Wyoming people’s lives are at stake.
Bien, a retired Marine Corps colonel and combat veteran, pointed to his military career and leadership experience.
“My whole adult life has been about leadership, about principled conservative leadership,” he said. “My objective is to restore principled conservative leadership, accountability and discipline to Cheyenne.”
Nuclear energy
Both candidates supported Wyoming’s role in energy production but opposed bringing outside nuclear waste into the state.
“I do not want Wyoming to be … the permanent repository for spent nuclear fuel. I will not allow that to happen on my watch,” Bien said.
Degenfelder said Wyoming should consider nuclear power as part of its energy future but added, “If it works for us to be able to have nuclear as part of the portfolio, then it has to be right for Wyoming and that is ensuring that we do not accept anyone else’s waste, period.”
Public lands
The candidates also opposed privatization of public lands.
“No one loves public lands more than I do,” Degenfelder said. “You start selling that to the highest bidder, Wyoming loses who we are.”
Bien said he is “absolutely opposed” to federal lands being sold to private interests.
“If they do decide to dispose of it, then we as the state of Wyoming should get first-right refusal at no cost,” he said.
Attorney general and judicial appointments
When asked what each would be looking for in an attorney general and judicial appointment, both candidates called for conservative leadership.
Bien said he would seek an attorney general from outside state government.
“I want a clean set of eyes to look at what everything’s been that’s been going on,” he said. “I want someone who will put people first and it will put Wyoming first.”
Degenfelder said she wants stronger advocacy from state agencies.
“I want a bulldog in not just the attorney general’s office, but in all state agencies,” she said. “I want an attorney general that is so aligned to my mission and vision and what I believe that there’s an amicus brief on my desk the next morning after an action takes place.”
Immigration
Both candidates supported stronger immigration enforcement.
Bien explained he wanted to cooperate with ICE “to the fullest extent possible” and to make sure immigrants who are not in the United States legally would be sent out of the state.
Degenfelder said illegal immigration is already affecting communities in Wyoming.
“If you’re here legally, you got nothing to worry about. If you aren’t, it’s time to go home,” she said.
Energy development and green energy
Energy policy generated some of the sharpest comments of the night.
Degenfelder argued renewable energy projects should compete without government support.
“I’m also an economist and so I’ll tell you the way that you kill these green energy, you make them play on the same playing field,” she said. “No more tax subsidies, no more handouts, ensuring the regulatory environment is just as equal.”
Bien took a firmer stance against renewable development.
“Folks, there’s no place in Wyoming for this green energy,” he said. “I want these things bonded up front and where we’re not paying for these like we did all the gas wells. The answer for me is absolutely, unequivocally no.”
Economic development
Degenfelder argued government should focus on infrastructure such as water and sewer systems rather than directing economic development.
“Government does not create jobs. Private business does,” she said.
Bien echoed that sentiment.
“The only business that government has in business is simply to get out of the way. It’s to cut taxes. It’s to deregulate,” he said. “Right now, we’re turning into state capitalism where we have our own state government picking winners and losers.”
Government audits
Both candidates supported increased auditing of state government.
“This state has not done a full-blown budgetary audit since 1989,” Bien said. “Whoever’s belly-aching loudest is going to get audited first.”
Degenfelder agreed.
“We should be auditing every single state agency, every single budget line all the time,” she said. “Government is a beast, and you need someone in there who can tame it and who knows how to do it.”
Abortion
Abortion was another topic where both candidates expressed strong opposition.
“Life starts at conception and there are no exceptions,” Degenfelder said. “We are now one of the most openly abortion states in the country because of that ruling by the Supreme Court. We’re working against the devil here.”
Bien also opposed abortion.
“Folks, for me, there are no exceptions. Life does begin at conception,” he said.
Election integrity
Bien advocated for hand-counting ballots.
“I am very much a proponent of hand tabulation being the primary method of counting all cast paper ballots and I will push that way,” he said.
Degenfelder called for paper ballots statewide.
“Every single ballot should be a paper ballot,” she said, adding that she supports “banning dropboxes.”
Republican platform
Both candidates pledged support for the Wyoming Republican Party platform.
“80% is a no-brainer, and we need to require that out of our elected officials,” Degenfelder said.
Bien said he expects to be held to “100%” of the platform.
“The party’s been co-opted. You have to have an ‘R’ behind your name to win in this state,” he said.
Candidate priorities
During a segment where candidates selected their own discussion topics, Degenfelder highlighted school choice, career and technical education, removing pornography from school libraries and protecting Wyoming’s water rights.
Bien focused on education and agriculture, criticizing student proficiency rates and proposing policies aimed at strengthening Wyoming’s agricultural industry, including declaring agriculture critical infrastructure and reducing regulations on small butcheries.
Technology and education
Although technology and its place within education was not discussed during the debate, County 17 asked both Degenfelder and Bien their thoughts regarding student technology in schools.
Bien said technology is being used too much in classrooms and is making it harder for students to think on their own.
“What it’s doing is it’s dumbing down our kids,” Bien said. “Our kids aren’t learning how to critically think anymore. They go straight to one of the AI things and it generates an answer for them.”
Degenfelder said she backed a bill to ban cellphones during instruction time.
“I supported a bill that came through the legislature a couple of years ago that actually would ban cell use during instructional time, and I stand by that,” Degenfelder said. “I think that it’s appropriate to take cellphones out of classrooms, and what we find is that kids thrive.”
Closing statements
In closing remarks, Bien emphasized his experience as an outsider candidate.
“I am the only outsider in this race, but I am the only one who’s got an inordinate amount of leadership experience,” he said. “Folks, you deserve a government that you can trust.”
Degenfelder pointed to her endorsements from President Donald Trump and U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman.
“I get asked a lot, ‘How did you get the Trump endorsement?’” Degenfelder said. “The answer is really simple. I earned it.”
Alongside other candidates, Bien and Degenfelder will be competing for support in Wyoming’s Republican gubernatorial primary Aug. 18.
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