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.

When the ice melted in late March, the striking burnt-red color returned to the fringes of the Wind River Range more pronounced than ever. 

This seemingly wine-stained water didn’t reveal itself in a melted-out mine tailings pond. It filled Little Soda Lake, a roughly 50-acre former trout fishing hole perched above Pinedale, just a half mile from Fremont Lake. Now, nearly a year and a half after the once-mysterious shade of water started turning heads in Sublette County, water quality officials say they’ve gained some understanding about what’s going on. 

The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality has ruled out harmful cyanobacteria — which have plagued Little Soda Lake — as the cause of the seldom-seen shade of water.

“The red coloration is due to a different type of algae,” said Eric Hargett, Wyoming DEQ’s water quality standards program supervisor. “Specifically, the algae is rhodomonas.” 

That’s a type of nontoxic cryptophyte that’s “most likely” the cause, Hargett said. The native microorganism was found in low densities during 2024 and 2025 testing, and it’s associated with red colorations and brackish water. 

“It does have the name Little Soda Lake,” Hargett said, “so it’s been known to be highly alkaline and high in salinity.” 

Other Wyoming lakes have turned red as a result of cryptophyte rhodomonas blooms, he said. Hargett recalled one in the Laramie Basin that had similar characteristics to outletless Little Soda Lake, and the other lake also changed color during a period of low water. 

Low water’s been a problem in the small Soda Lake watershed. Roughly 50-foot-deep Little Soda Lake’s water level fell by 6-8 feet in recent decades, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department reported in 2024. Nearby and larger Soda Lake dropped even more, by 15 feet. The historically warm winter and sparse snowpack Wyoming just endured will likely only exacerbate those trends.   

Harmful cyanobacteria blooms are another part of the troubling water quality changes in the lake, 6 miles north of Pinedale. Little Soda Lake had its first known harmful cyanobacteria bloom in November 2024. The following May, it became the first Wyoming waterbody in 2025 listed on the state agency’s cyanobacteria monitoring website with an advisory. Its water, so far, has not tested positive for related toxins.

Non-toxic, but beware

Although the water is red, there are indications that Little Soda Lake in 2026 is not yet experiencing high densities of cyanobacteria, according to Wyoming DEQ’s harmful cyanobacteria coordinator, Rachel Eyres. Two weeks ago, staff at the Bridger-Teton National Forest, the land manager for the lake, conducted a simple “jar test” and conveyed the results. 

“Typically, cyanobacteria will float to the top because they adjust their buoyancy,” Eyres said. “Other phytoplankton, such as algae, will not, and what the [Little Soda] jar test showed is that the top 99% of the water was completely clear. There was just some red organic material in the bottom of the jar.” 

Later, official tests will occur. Wyoming DEQ and the Bridger-Teton will test Little Soda’s water for cyanobacteria presence and toxins monthly from July through October, Eyres said. 

Little Soda Lake is essentially inaccessible right now because of a winter closure on the Soda Lake Wildlife Habitat Management Area, but that lifts on May 1. Once it does, people recreating should use caution.

Little Soda’s red color could even mask some of the telltale signs of harmful cyanobacteria, Eyres said. Those include blue-green or pea-colored water that sometimes forms in scums or mats.  

“A [cyanobacteria] bloom can arise at any time, and even before we’re made aware,” Eyres said. “When in doubt, stay out. If you think it looks gross, I would definitely not swim in it and try to keep your dogs out of it.” 

Officially, the environmental factors that ultimately enabled the changes in Little Soda Lake remain unknown. 

DEQ’s cyanobacteria surveillance has “provided some insight into what the red bloom actually is,” Hargett said. But there’s no broader investigation into the waterbody and it’s not being assessed for a possible “impaired” listing in Wyoming’s biennial Clean Water Act compliance report. 

Addressing red water?

Absent an impairment, it’s not DEQ’s role to propose how to address Little Soda Lake. 

“It would need to be impaired for us to step in and do any sort of work towards improving a waterbody,” Eyres said.

Some locals have suggestions for next steps. 

Joe Meyer is a Pinedale resident and retired University of Wyoming limnologist — that’s a scientist who studies inland aquatic ecosystems. He did his postdoctoral research on eutrophic, nutrient-laden lakes.

A couple years ago, Meyer hiked to Little Soda Lake and walked away with an educated guess about why it was colored like “split pea soup” at the time.

“There were cowpies along the shoreline,” Meyer said. “My first impression was that boy, there’s enough cattle in here to really load up the water with nutrients.” 

The following winter, Little Soda Lake first turned red. The color returned in fall 2025, Wyoming Public Radio reported. Aerial photos of the recurrence this spring show perhaps the most stark shade of red yet. 

Accumulated nutrients — phosphorus and nitrogen — from cattle feces in Little Soda Lake’s sediment and water are a possible explanation for the bloom that turned the lake red, Meyer said. 

“It’s a really nutrient-stressed lake, and this cryptophyte could be a result of that,” Meyer said. 

There’s no arguing with tests and data, Meyer said, and cryptophyte rhodomonas sounds like a “plausible” reason why Little Soda Lake’s turned so red. But Wyoming DEQ also can’t rule out oxidized iron or manganese as an explanation without more extensively testing the water, he said.  

Those tests could also provide insight about potential underlying causes, like cattle grazing. 

“I strongly suggest routine water chemistry [tests],” Meyer said. “They need to know total and dissolved nitrogen and total and dissolved phosphorus concentrations. Those are the minimum things that we’d want to know about a eutrophic lake.”

The Amazon Prime show Forbidden Mysteries has an episode on one of the strangest architectural oddities in Wyoming.

Deep in Wyoming’s rugged landscape stands a strange wooden structure that defies explanation. The Smith Mansion was built over decades, yet its true purpose remains an unsolved mystery. (Forbidden Mysteries).

The Smith Mansion, also known as the Smith Family Cabin, is a large, prominent structure with a height of roughly 75 ft in the Wapiti Valley in Wapiti, Wyoming.

You can watch the cut of this episode on YouTube video below

There was nothing traditional about this house. Even the way they lived here. Forget beds and bedrooms. The video above explains.

Each week, Forbidden Mysteries uncovers the hidden truths, dark secrets, and extraordinary stories that history tried to forget. From royal scandals and unsolved murders to secret societies, ancient relics, and mysterious ruins, every episode takes you deeper into the shadows of the past.

The iconic Smith Mansion (or Smith Family Cabin) in Wapiti, Wyoming, is a notable 75-foot-tall, five-story log structure built by Francis Lee Smith between 1971 and 1992.

October 2019 to Zhiru Huang of Mountain Lodging for an undisclosed amount, although it was listed for roughly. It was sold by his daughter to preserve the legacy and stop vandalism.

If you want to drive out and see it for yourself, the Smith Mansion (or Smith Family Cabin) in Wapiti, Wyoming, is situated on the North Fork Highway between Cody and Yellowstone. This uniquely designed, rustic landmark is privately owned but easily viewed from the road.

Sure, you’ll want to go up and explore it for yourself. You’ll want to go inside. But, alas, you can’t. It’s probably not even safe.