Wyoming GOP Governor Rips 'Aggressive' DOJ Monitors

Gordon stopped short of alleging misconduct. He said he was not "objecting to the observers," but that their "behavior seemed to exceed what the authority that Congress had given them was." He added: "I'm not saying anything went wrong or anything else, and I certainly think the conduct of this election was phenomenal."

Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee, a Republican and the county's chief election official, was harsher. "This was a poorly managed exercise and one that showed complete disregard for our state laws and administration of our elections," she said in a statement.

Lee said two people identified themselves as DOJ election monitors to a poll worker and "did not offer their credentials until I requested they do so." She said their questions were "outside the scope of federal voting rights laws" — they asked about the nature, length and timing of poll worker training, "requested training guides, asked how our new election equipment was acquired, and wanted to examine our tabulators."

Lee said she refused a request to let the monitors interview voters. "We do not allow interviews to be conducted in polling places," she said. She also said a DOJ official in Washington told her the decision to send monitors to Wyoming was made on short notice and that an email to her may have gone to the wrong address.

At the same meeting, Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray and Election Director Paul Raines responded to Gordon. Gray said public reporting indicated Smith, the U.S. attorney, knew of the Justice Department's plans and had been working with the agency.