Group sues to stop Cochise County's 'stolen election' zealots from stealing 2024 election
We have reason to believe there are people in authority within Cochise County who might be willing to subvert the election process in order to help preferred candidates.
We know this because … they tried it last time around.
Eventually, that led to an investigation by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office and a grand jury indictment that charged Cochise County Supervisors Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby with felony counts of conspiracy and interference with an election officer.
Attorney General Kris Mayes said of the indictment, “The repeated attempts to undermine our democracy are unacceptable. 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.”
Cochise County supervisors are still in office
That is all well and good, but Judd and Crosby remain as supervisors and there is another election rolling around.
Given that, it makes perfect sense for the government watchdog organization American Oversight to sue Cochise County, demanding the release of public records that could provide insight into the county’s previous election administration decisions and perhaps, by way of public scrutiny, prevent any possible future funny business.
Some in GOP want to: Impeach AG for enforcing election law
American Oversight Executive Director Heather Sawyer said in a statement, “The recent indictment of two members of Cochise County’s Board of Supervisors makes it even more pressing for the people of Arizona to know what was happening behind closed doors as officials delayed certification of the 2022 midterm results, putting thousands of Arizonans’ votes at risk.
“With the 2024 election looming, the public, especially Cochise County residents, should know how officials aligned with the election denial movement have used their authority to make significant changes to election administration and to undermine our democratic processes.”
American Oversight is suing for documents
The supervisors got into trouble for ignoring state law by trying to implement a full hand count and for their refusal to certify the 2022 results.
American Oversight is seeking documents related to those decisions, as well as records that concern ballot security measures, communications made with election deniers and information about the transfer of election administration authority. It’s all laid out in their lawsuit.
The group also notes that Cochise County — as has been described in news articles — was/is “a hotbed for election denialism.”
It’s not the only place like that in Arizona, of course.
In fact, what the American Oversight lawsuit reminds us is that, in a year like this, the only thing worse than government-backed election denialism is denying that such a thing exists.
Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Cochise County supervisors can't be allowed to steal 2024 election
