By Tom Coulter

Wyoming Tribune Eagle

Via- Wyoming News Exchange

CHEYENNE — Gov. Mark Gordon issued a statement Thursday in support of a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton against four battleground states over their election processes, but he said Wyoming will wait to see if the Supreme Court grants an initial motion in the case before taking any action.

“I strongly support the Supreme Court hearing the constitutional issue of the Electors Clause raised by Texas in their petition,” Gordon said in a statement Thursday afternoon. “President Trump has the right to bring electoral issues for resolution in the U.S. judicial system. I, along with Wyoming voters, overwhelmingly supported President Trump through our electoral process.”

The Texas-based suit, filed by Paxton on Tuesday, argues that pandemic-era changes to election processes in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin violated federal law, and it asks the U.S. Supreme Court to block those states from voting in the Electoral College.

Since the announcement of the lawsuit, 17 other states, excluding Wyoming, backed the effort challenging the 2020 election results in a separate brief, and President Donald Trump has also asked to join the lawsuit as a plaintiff.

In his statement, Gordon noted Wyoming state officials were never informed, nor asked by Texas to consider joining the suit.

“The state of Texas’s filing was more than 150 pages, and there was inadequate time to properly consider the ramifications of joining the motion specifically, or to thoughtfully consider joining the supporting states’ brief before it was filed,” Gordon said. “I asked (Attorney General Bridget Hill) to look into the case and consider possible actions the state of Wyoming might take.

“General Hill did this, and after significant consideration, we believe that the case could have unintended consequences relating to a constitutional principle that the state of Wyoming holds dear – that states are sovereign, free to govern themselves,” he continued.

If the Supreme Court grants Texas’s motion, Gordon said his team “will weigh (the case) in a manner that is suitable and appropriate for the issues raised.”

Gordon’s announcement came a day after 32 current and soon-to-be state lawmakers submitted a letter to the governor urging him to join the lawsuit.

The letter, written by Sen. Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, and co-signed by 31 other elected lawmakers, asks Gordon to immediately join the suit “in order to protect the sanctity of our election process and to ensure that Wyoming citizens’ vote will not be debased by the actions of the defendant states.”

The group of lawmakers, which included several from Cheyenne, as well as a few leading members of the Legislature, was also joined by the Wyoming Republican Party in urging the governor to join the lawsuit.

Officials in every contested state, as well as U.S. Attorney General William Barr, have said there is no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. However, the statement issued by the Wyoming GOP argues the matter demands immediate action “by all governors, including the Gordon administration, to address this existential threat to the future of our Republic.”

“In short, the overwhelming body of evidence shows that these rogue states unlawfully changed election laws, thereby opening up opportunities for election fraud,” the statement reads. “This is not a Donald Trump issue – this issue impacts all American states.”

In his statement Thursday, Gordon agreed that “states must follow laws passed by their Legislature concerning elections.”

“I could not be more proud of Wyoming’s electoral process, both in terms of security and the ability for Wyomingites to cast their vote,” he added.

The effort in Texas to potentially overturn the presidential election results was also backed by Wyoming Secretary of State Ed Buchanan.

“I support the state of Texas in its quest to ensure that elections are conducted in accordance with the Constitution and state law,” Buchanan said in a statement included with the governor’s. “Our judiciary is the proper place to raise these issues.”

On Thursday, officials from the four battleground states being sued urged the Supreme Court to reject the lawsuit filed by Texas, stating the case had no legal or factual basis, according to a Reuters report.