Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Post Election Audit Weston County topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Management Audit Committee advances election‑integrity bills after Weston County post‑election audit review
Summary
After a subcommittee review of the Weston County 2024 post‑election audit, the Management Audit Committee advanced four bill drafts on subpoenas, falsifying election documents, audit procedures, and removal of county officers; it also authorized additional subcommittee work to seek testimony.
The Management Audit Committee reviewed a subcommittee report on the 2024 Weston County post‑election audit and advanced a package of bills aimed at clarifying post‑election audit procedures, increasing penalties for failing to comply with legislative subpoenas and adding the secretary of state as an authorized complainant in county‑officer removal proceedings.
LSO staff summarized the subcommittee’s findings: Weston County’s initial post‑election audit report filed after the November 2024 election reported no findings, but a later review identified machine‑reading errors. “The Western County clerk submission of the county's post election audit results to the secretary of state's office failed to identify 21 instances of machine reading errors in a random sample of 75,” LSO staff said. That sample, and subsequent hand counts, exposed votes not counted in the original tabulation; the subcommittee report stated those errors led to a widespread misclassification of votes and cited a resulting undervote figure in the order of 1,279 votes for multiple races.
Secretary of State Chuck Gray told the committee his office had repeatedly raised concerns about the audit results and that his office had asked the governor’s office to consider removal of the county clerk. Governor Gordon’s legal staff later told the committee the governor’s prior review did not conclude there was conduct rising to the level of removal, and that the governor’s office would start a new review after receiving recent verified complaints.
The committee heard testimony from county clerks and hand‑count workers; witnesses described three versions of ballots being printed and distributed in Weston County and said that misaligned or incorrect versions can cause machine‑reading errors. County clerks and canvassing board members recommended clearer statutory guidance on ballots, stronger custody procedures, and formal audit‑working groups and training.
After closed consideration, the committee voted to advance four draft bills developed by the subcommittee and LSO staff. The bills and outcomes were:
- Legislative subpoena penalty (26LSO-0248): raises the fine for failing to comply with a legislative subpoena from $100 to $750. Vote: 9 ayes, 2 excused.
- Falsifying election documents (26LSO-0249): adds knowingly submitting a false post‑election audit report to the list of election‑document falsification offenses. Vote: 9 ayes, 2 excused.
- Post‑election audit procedures (26LSO-0250): requires county clerks to notify political‑party chairs and independent candidates of audit time/place, requires representatives of different parties be present to observe audits, and requires observers to be able to register written objections; the bill also was amended to require observers to take the oath required of election officials and to require minutes of audits to be produced and submitted with results. Vote: 9 ayes, 2 excused.
- Removal of county officers — election code (26LSO-0251): expands the list of persons authorized to submit a verified complaint to the governor to include the Secretary of State when the complaint concerns a county clerk and alleged violations of the election code. Vote: 9 ayes, 2 excused.
The committee also voted to give the Weston County subcommittee one additional day to collect testimony and finalize its report; that motion passed by the same recorded margin (9 ayes, 2 excused). Committee members said the extra hearing time will permit the subcommittee to seek the subpoenaed testimony it had previously been unable to secure.
Several members urged that any new statutory language be carefully drafted to avoid duplicative criminal language already found in state statutes; Secretary Gray and LSO staff discussed existing statutes criminalizing false filings and will work with the subcommittee to refine draft language.
The committee left the drafts in its bill pipeline for further work during the interim and indicated some members may follow the subcommittee’s additional meeting in person. Committee members emphasized the goal of improving audit transparency and procedures so that similar errors can be detected and corrected more promptly in future elections.
