The office of Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs asked state and local prosecutors to investigate and take action against two Republican county Board Supervisors who delayed certifying election results.
Hobbs, the Arizona Democrat Governor-elect who narrowly defeated Republican Kari Lake, has not resigned her current seat as Secretary of State nor recused herself from the election certification process despite her candidacy in the gubernatorial contest.
Hobbs’ State Elections Director Kori Lorick wrote a letter on Friday to Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich and Cochise County Attorney Brian McIntire, urging them to take action on Hobbs’ behalf.
Lorick wrote:
I am writing today to urge you to investigate and take appropriate enforcement action against potential violations of Arizona law committed by Cochise County Board of Supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd for knowingly refusing to comply with Arizona’s law that required them to canvass Cochise County’s 2022 General Election by November 28. Only after a court ordered the Board of Supervisors to canvass this election, did Supervisor Judd comply, and even then, Supervisor Crosby continued to defy his statutory responsibility as well as the court order.
She added,
Supervisors Crosby and Judd knew they had a statutory requirement to canvass the election by November 28, but instead chose to act in violation of the law, putting false election narratives ahead of Cochise County’s voters.
Despite the politically-charged messaging from the Democrat Secretary of States’ office, the Sentinel can find no evidence that the named Cochise County board supervisors questioned the election results. Two of the three Supervisors stated that they did not think the machines were properly set up to accurately count votes, despite being approved for federal and state use, and wanted to extend the time for certifying the election.
Hobbs claimed she is required to certify the election by December 5th and had filed a lawsuit on November 28th demanding counties certify their election. A judge ruled in her favor on Friday, but Hobbs’ office proceeded to call on Arizona prosecutors demanding criminal investigations as well.
On Thursday, news broke that Hobbs’ office sent emails containing threats of lawsuits against county board supervisors in Arizona, including threats of prison time, if they did not certify the election results. The Daily Caller released copies of the emails.
Kori Lorick in Hobbs’ office cited state law which establishes that election officers who refuse to do their duty are guilty of a class 6 felony and are at risk of doing time in prison.
“Our office will take all legal action necessary to ensure that Arizona’s voters have their votes counted,” Lorick stated in her email, “including referring the individual supervisors who vote not to certify for criminal enforcement under A.R.S. 16-1010.”
There were multiple counties who chose to delay certification until able to review election integrity issues. Mohave County was the only reported county whose officers were threatened with jail time.
Mohave County certified the results on the deadline, but Cochise County voted to delay their certification until Friday, December 2nd. The full lawsuit from Hobbs’ office can be found here.
Arizona has been in an ongoing battle for election integrity since 2020, from broken voting machines to ballot printing issues. The Kari Lake campaign stated in court that as many as 118 out of 223 voting centers in Maricopa County had issues with ballot malfunctions. The Associated Press reported that there were issues in both conservative and liberal areas with machines being broken down and ballots being read improperly. Lake tweeted that “Arizonans have no faith and trust in our elections.”
Republicans also lost the U.S. Senate race in the election, with Democratic Senator Mark Kelly winning against Republican Blake Masters. Governor-elect Katie Hobbs will be inaugurated on January 5th and will be the first Democratic governor of Arizona in 12 years.
