Petitioners trying to recall Cochise County supervisor threatened, harassed

As petitioners rush to gather enough signatures to trigger a recall vote for Cochise County Supervisor Tom Crosby before the May 3 deadline, some say they experienced harassment and threatening behavior from community members and a local official.

Two incidents that occurred last month are driving the committee to push even harder to get the last remaining signatures.

The Committee to Recall Tom Crosby, who is organizing the recall efforts, has collected just over half of the signatures needed to move the recall forward since January. Just two weeks are left to collect the remainder of the votes.

The recall stems from Crosby’s actions last year: from voting for an illegal hand count of all the county’s ballots before the November election and refusing to certify election results, according to the committee.

Although Crosby was not the only supervisor engaging in these actions, the recall is centered around him because the group leading the effort is from his district, District 1.

Interim elections director has run-in with petitioners

Last month, Interim Elections Director and County Recorder David Stevens confronted two petitioners in their 70s who were collecting signatures on a dirt lot adjacent to the Hereford Post Office. He claimed they were on federal land and thus breaking state law, telling them to leave, according to an article published by the Sierra Vista Herald.

The two petitioners said they had received permission from the postmaster to collect signatures on that lot, according to the article. There was a heated exchange between Stevens and the two petitioners. They said they felt intimidated and threatened by Stevens' actions, the article stated.

The couple also said they had experienced other incidents of harassment from people who disagreed with the recall effort.

Stevens is at the center of a controversial move made by the county board. In February, the board of supervisors voted to move election director responsibilities to Stevens, who is also the county recorder, after the former elections director resigned due to harassment. The county is now facing a lawsuit from the Attorney General for that vote.

Election changes withstand challenge: Cochise County will vote as planned after judge rejects attorney general's lawsuit

Man followed petitioners while yelling

In another incident, two Sierra Vista retirees were going from house to house collecting signatures for the recall effort. At one house, no one answered the door. As one of the canvassers was walking away, a man came out of the house screaming at her to leave and followed her down the street while yelling.

One of the canvassers told The Arizona Republic she could not get away from the man and felt threatened.

According to a police report, an off-duty police officer told the man to leave them alone.

The Sierra Vista Police Department said it is legal to go door-to-door requesting signatures for a petition.

The two petitioners involved in the second incident reiterated that while these incidents have been happening, they are from a small, albeit vocal, portion of the community. Most people are polite, they said.

Eric Suchodolski of Sierra Vista, who chairs the recall committee, said these actions are driving the committee to push harder to get signatures and educate the public about the recall.

With just a few weeks left, the committee has collected two-thirds of the signatures they need to trigger a recall election. Suchodolski told The Republic many weeks of rough weather made it difficult for volunteers to go out to gather signatures. Petitioners described trying to go out in snow, heavy winds and rain with their paper petitions.

Suchodolski noted the recall effort is nonpartisan with equal numbers of Democrat, Republican and Independent voters in District 1 signing the petition.

What caused the recall effort?

Recall efforts began this year after Crosby and Supervisor Peggy Judd voted to hand count 100% of the county’s ballots in the November general election. That action was deemed illegal and blocked by Pima County Judge Casey McGinley.

After the election, the two supervisors refused to certify the election results and were court-ordered to do so by the judge. The vote to certify the election results passed with a vote of 2-0 with Judd and Supervisor Ann English voting for the certification. Crosby did not attend the court-ordered meeting to certify the results.

Who is Tom Crosby?

Crosby was previously a Sierra Vista City Council member and is a former U.S. Border Patrol agent and pilot. He sits on the three-person Cochise County Board of Supervisors with Peggy Judd and Ann English.

Cochise County is a rural county located in the southeastern corner of Arizona, bordering Mexico.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Efforts to recall Cochise County Supervisor Tom Crosby met with threats