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Wyoming poll workers were subject to “irregular” questioning during elections August 18.<\/span>Scott Olson\/Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Wyoming\u2019s governor is<\/span> speaking out about what he calls \u201caggressive\u201d and \u201cirregular\u201d behavior on the part of Department of Justice employees sent to monitor the state\u2019s August 18 primary elections.<\/p>\n The two election monitors were sent as part of a \u201cmonitoring initiative aimed at promoting transparency,\u201d according to a DOJ press release. But their behavior managed to upset even Republican Gov. Mark Gordon.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel very strongly about the federal government coming in and taking our guns. I don\u2019t like that. I don\u2019t like the federal government coming in and taking our votes, either,\u201d Gordon told the Wyoming state canvassing board Wednesday. Local and state officials, Gordon said, were not made aware that the election monitors would be present, and fellow Republican Debra Lee, the chief election officer for Wyoming\u2019s most populous county, said the federal employees \u201cdid not offer their credentials until I requested they do so.\u201d <\/p>\n Then, Lee said, they proceeded to ask questions that appeared \u201coutside the scope of federal voting rights laws \u2026about the nature, length, and timing of poll worker training. Monitors requested training guides, asked how our new election equipment was acquired, and wanted to examine our tabulators.\u201d <\/p>\n The news outlet WyoFile<\/a> reported that the state\u2019s attorney general is now investigating what happened that day.<\/p>\n Trump administration officials have stated that they intend to send up to 1,000 election monitors to the polls this fall, in what some Democratic lawmakers are calling<\/a> \u201ca mechanism for intimidating voters and pressuring local election officials\u201d\u2014pressure that evidently unsettles even voters and civil servants in conservative states. In many of last week\u2019s Wyoming primaries, Republican candidates<\/a> who amplified the president\u2019s claims of widespread election fraud lost.<\/p>\n But some Republican governors and candidates in other states have expressed excitement at the prospect of federal officials at their polling places\u2014like Maine Republican gubernatorial nominee Bobby Charles, who told members of a Young Republican club earlier this week that he intends to call his \u201cfriend\u201d Tom Homan, Trump\u2019s deportation czar, to ask for ICE presence<\/a> at the polls.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n