PHOENIX — On Wednesday, Nov. 29, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced that two of the three Cochise County supervisors have been indicted for their roles in delaying the state’s certification of voting results in the 2022 election.
Indicted were Supervisor Peggy Judd, of Willcox, and Tom Crosby, of Sierra Vista. Both are charged with conspiracy and interference with an election officer. Both charges are class 5 felonies.
The indictment was filed in Maricopa County Superior Court on Nov. 27.
“The repeated attempts to undermine our democracy are unacceptable,” Mayes said in a prepared 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.”
Following the 2022 general election, both Judd and Crosby voted for a hand-count of all ballots cast in Cochise County, despite state law calling for the tabulation to be conducted by machine. Eventually the pair agreed to a hand count of a random sampling of ballots following a letter of direction from the Secretary of State’s Office.
The pair also voted to delay canvass of the county’s election results until four days after the state deadline. That resulted in a suit filed by the Secretary of State’s Office to force the board to certify the results. A Cochise County Superior Court judge ruled against the pair and the election results were made official by a 2-0 vote, with Crosby not attending the special meeting to vote on the canvass.
Following the delays in certification, a group in Crosby’s district attempted to recall him from office but failed to gather enough signatures by the May deadline to qualify the recall for the ballot.
