Under court order, Cochise County board certifies election results

Cochise County supervisors finally certified the results of the general election — under court order.

The 2-0 vote — Republican Tom Crosby did not show up at the Thursday afternoon meeting — came just hours after a judge ruled state law is clear that the supervisors were required to certify, or formally canvass, the county’s vote totals, and should have done so on Monday.

Pima County Superior Court Judge Casey McGinley, hearing the case in Bisbee, ordered the board to meet and certify the results by 5 p.m. Thursday.

McGinley acknowledged there is an exception in cases where some voting precincts have not submitted their ballots. But he said that was not the case here.

Instead, the judge said, the two Republicans on the three-member board were questioning whether the machines used to tabulate the ballots were properly certified despite repeated assurances by state Elections Director Kori Lorick that they were. But McGinley said that’s not an excuse to ignore the clear language of the statutes.

“Whatever challenge or concern that the board or its members or the public may have about the certification or licensure of the tabulating equipment is not contemplated’’ by the law, McGinley said.

He rejected a request, by those challenging the board’s previous refusal, that he put in writing how he would penalize the supervisors if they failed to act.

“This court recognizes its authority and is sure the parties recognize this court’s authority as well,’’ McGinley said.

‘I must follow what the judge did’

Republican Supervisor Peggy Judd, who along with Crosby had blocked prior efforts to certify the results, said she was not happy having their hands forced by the judge.

“We have an obligation to ensure that our elections are fair and good,’’ Judd said. But she acknowledged the validity of the court order.

“I am a rule-of-law person,’’ she said. That order, coupled with “my own health and situations going on in our life,’’ means “I must follow what the judge did today,” Judd said.

Still, Judd said her own reading of the election statutes convinces her she was correct in saying the results cannot be certified until all questions about their accuracy are answered.

‘A circus that doesn’t need to happen’

The ruling came after the judge rejected Crosby’s request to delay the hearing until next week.

Crosby said the board has no one representing it. An attorney he had hoped would show up Thursday now needs until early next week to prepare, he said.

McGinley refused after Andrew Gaona, who represents Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, pointed out the state is set to do its legally required formal canvass on Monday, Dec. 5. With results of the 14 other counties already certified, the only part missing is the final official tally from Cochise.

The judge also rejected a request by Crosby to give the board until its scheduled Friday meeting to act.

That pleased Ann English, the lone Democrat on the board and the only supervisor who has wanted to approve the canvass before now.

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She pointed out that the Friday agenda includes an item she believes Crosby designed to be “sort of a smackdown between the secretary of state and the election deniers.’’

“I think it’s a circus that doesn’t need to happen,’’ English said.

Lawyer: Concerns little more than a ruse

The Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans, a labor group, sued to force the supervisors to act.

“It appears that members of the board are acting in bad faith here,’’ their attorney Lalitha Madduri told the judge.

The concerns about the certification of equipment appear to be little more than a ruse, Madduri said.

“The board has made public statements to news outlets describing what they’re doing as a protest over the election in Maricopa County,’’ she said. “They have openly acknowledged that this entire machine issue that has been raised over the past 10 days was mostly a pretext.’’

Those issues relate to unsubstantiated claims that Election Day problems with printers and tabulation equipment in Maricopa, the state’s most populous county, not only disenfranchised some voters, but depressed votes by Republicans, who are more likely to go to the polls on Election Day than cast an early ballot.

Gaona told McGinley he should pay no attention to the fact the supervisors have had trouble getting legal representation after Republican Cochise County Attorney Brian McIntyre refused, telling board members he would not go to court to defend their illegal actions.

“That the supervisors at issue here had difficulty securing an attorney willing to defend something that, frankly, has no defense is hardly the fault” of the secretary of state or the alliance plaintiffs, he said. “To delay the case on that ground would prejudice all Arizonans and, in particular, the voters of Cochise County.’’

That last point goes to Lorick’s contention the state would go ahead and certify the election returns without the approximately 47,000 from Cochise County voters if the supervisors did not act by the date of the statewide canvass.

That, in turn, could have affected the results of several elections, including the race for state schools chief and for Congress in District 6.

Lake, Finchem preparing lawsuits

The final canvass in Cochise County clears the way for the final statewide results to be certified. Those include the election of Hobbs as governor over Republican Kari Lake and the loss by Mark Finchem, GOP candidate for secretary of state, to Democrat Adrian Fontes.

But it will not put the legal battles over the election to bed.

State law allows challenges to election returns to be filed within five days after the statewide canvass, scheduled for Monday. Both Lake and Finchem have said they are preparing lawsuits based on claims, so far unsupported, that the Election Day problems in Maricopa County disenfranchised many Republican voters.

Challenges aside, several races are headed for an automatic recount because the margin of difference between candidates was within one-half of one percent. Those include the contests for state schools chief and for attorney general.