Wyoming Governor Calls for Inquiry into 'Aggressive' Behavior of Trump Administration's Election Monitors

Wyoming's Republican Governor, Mark Gordon, has expressed concern over the actions of Justice Department election monitors who observed the state's primary election last week. Gordon has requested that his attorney general investigate the monitors' "aggressive" behavior, which he described as "irregular" and "a bit aggressive."

The Justice Department sent two Civil Rights Division attorneys to Laramie County, Wyoming, which includes the state capital of Cheyenne, to observe the primary election. However, some officials, including the state attorney general, were not informed of the move in advance, according to Gordon.

"It sounded like the behavior of the observers was a bit aggressive," Gordon said during a state canvassing board meeting. "It just was irregular and, and I have asked the attorney general to start looking into … the nature of the visits and all that sort of stuff."

The DOJ, when contacted for comment, referred CNN to a statement from Wyoming US Attorney Darin Smith, who emphasized the importance of secure ballots and the protection of every lawful vote. The department has sent more than 80 monitors to seven states so far this year for primary elections and plans to send about 1,000 monitors to polling sites in November.

Gordon's criticism comes as President Donald Trump continues to cast doubt on the integrity of elections. Trump has baselessly alleged cheating in the Los Angeles mayoral primary election and continues to claim, without evidence, that the 2020 election was rigged.

Democrats and voting rights activists raised concerns last year about the potential for election monitors to undermine the voting process or to be used to sow doubts about the election. However, the Trump administration insisted that monitors were being sent out in line with decades-long federal monitoring practices.

Gordon said he was not against the idea of election monitors but expressed concerns that the behavior of the monitors deployed to Wyoming "seemed to exceed what the authority that Congress had given them was."

"I'm not saying anything went wrong or anything else, and I certainly think that the conduct of this election was phenomenal," Gordon said. "But, I don't like the federal government coming in and taking our votes."

The incident in Wyoming highlights ongoing tensions between state and federal authorities over the monitoring of elections. As the midterm elections approach, concerns about the integrity of the voting process are likely to remain a focal point of political debate.