Two Cochise County officials face felony charges over 2022 election

by Adnan Alam
  • Slug: BC-CNS-Cochise County Indictments,410 words.
  • File photo available (thumbnail, caption below).

By Tabitha Bland
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – The Arizona Attorney General’s office on Wednesday announced the indictment of two Cochise County supervisors for their roles in delaying the certification of the county’s results in the November 2022 general election.

Peggy Judd, 61, and Terry “Tom” Crosby, 64, face felony charges of conspiracy and interference with an election officer.

“The repeated attempts to undermine our democracy are unacceptable,” Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a statement. “I took an oath to uphold the rule of law, and my office will continue to enforce Arizona’s elections laws and support our election officials as they carry out the duties and responsibilities of their offices.”

The indictment, filed Monday in Maricopa County Superior Court, alleges conspiracy between the two Republican supervisors.

According to the indictment said the two “knowingly interfered with the efforts of (then-)Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs to complete the canvas of the 2022 Statewide General Election by preventing the Cochise County Board of Supervisors from canvassing the election within the time period required by law, and preventing the timely transmission of the county’s returns to the Secretary of State’s Office for inclusion in the statewide canvass.”

Last November, Judd and Crosby pushed for a hand count of all 47,000 ballots cast. A Pima County judge ruled against them, saying the supervisors overstepped their legal authority by demanding the hand count, according to the Associated Press. The canvass process aggregates and confirms every valid ballot cast and counted, including mail, uniformed and overseas citizen, early voting, Election Day and provisional ballots.

The delayed transmission ultimately prevented delivery of the canvass to the secretary of state’s office within the time period set under Arizona state law.

At the time of the delay, Crosby said he wanted more time to question officials about properly certified voting equipment.

“This meeting agenda should have provided for interaction between subject matter experts on voting machines and representatives of the Secretary of State’s Office,” Crosby said at a hearing in November.

But Sophia Solis, deputy of communication for the office, said at the time that the secretary of state’s office “provided supporting documentation that confirmed Cochise County’s election equipment was properly certified. The Board of Supervisors had all of the information they needed to certify this election and failed to uphold their responsibility for Cochise voters.”

Cochise County declined to comment for this story. Judd and Crosby could not be reached. Both defendants are still serving as Cochise County supervisors.

For more stories from Cronkite News, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org.

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Peggy Judd, 61, and Terry “Tom” Crosby, 64, face felony charges of conspiracy and interference with an election officer over their roles in postponing certification of Cochise County’s 2022 general election results. In this November 2022 file photo, an election worker gathers ballots at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center. (File photo by Drake Presto/Cronkite News)