Election Deniers Still Try Their Shenanigans at the County Level: They Should be Investigated, Indicted, Tried and Convicted for Their Crimes

Arizona Rep. Grijalva asks DOJ to Investigate Cochise County Supervisors

Two election deniers who serve on the Cochise County Board of Supervisors, Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd, are the subjects of a requested investigation by the Department of Justice at the request of Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva.  Part of Grijalva's district includes a slice of the far southern part of Cochise County, including the heavily Democratic towns of Bisbee and Douglas, also part of the district represented by the only Democrat on the board of supervisors, Ann English.  That, apparently, gives the congressman standing to ask the DOJ to get involved in what appears to be multiple violations of the law, including refusal to certify election totals by the deadline, ordering the county election supervisor to conduct an illegal hand-count of the ballots, suing her when she refused, and then rolling her duties illegally into the partisan Republican county recorder's job.  

It appears that the two GOP supervisors were part of a bigger effort across Arizona, orchestrated by Mark Finchem, the defeated GOP candidate for Secretary of State, to try and prevent certification of the election he, and election denier Kari Lake, along with Republicans at the statewide level across the board, legitimately lost.  The two Cochise County Republicans cited concerns about the accuracy of ballot counting machinery as their rationale for holding up the certification of the county's ballots, which favored the GOP candidates by more than 10% of the vote.  

Had their actions led to the disenfranchisement of Cochise County's voters, the certified total, which then Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, threatened to leave out as a consequence of the supervisor's illegal action, would have led to the defeat of Republican Congressman Juan Ciscomani and at least two Republican state representatives and one state senator, along with virtually every locally elected official in the county.  Apparently, Finchem had backed a plan that involved participation of at least two other majority Republican counties in refusing to certify election results to try and derail Democratic victors from claiming a win.  Only Cochise County's two Republican supervisors actually followed through with the delay of certification.  

This is Where Election Deniers Do Their Worst

With counting ballots falling to county election supervisors, it is possible for politically motivated deniers to cause problems that would wind up disenfranchising voters who cast ballots for candidates they've targeted for defeat.  Congressman Grijalva is claiming that Cochise County's supervisors have violated the law, particularly in rolling the duties of the county election supervisor into the job description of the county recorder, which is illegal.  The duly elected and long-serving election supervisor in the county resigned, citing a hostile work environment when she was harassed by Crosby and Judd for not giving in to their orders to conduct an illegal hand count of the ballots.  So the job now belongs to a partisan, Republican election denier.  

If it didn't work for this election, they've set things up for down the road.  And if something isn't done about all of this very illegal activity, it will change the course of electoral politics in Arizona.  

So, I hope the DOJ takes up this case and that indictments are forthcoming.  Cochise County residents are entitled to free and fair elections and they need personnel in place who will make sure that happens.  There is a strong, well-organized recall effort moving forward with plenty of support to get rid of Crosby, who violated a judges order to certify the election.  Crosby just didn't show up for the meeting where that was scheduled to happen.  Judd may have avoided being the immediate target of a recall, but honestly, even though her district is one of the most rural, reddest parts of the county, the effort might gain enough support to get her out.  

This is something that needs to happen everywhere this goes on.  It was heartwarming to see the state of New Mexico oust Couy Griffin from the Otero County Board of Supervisors for his role in the January 6th Trump Insurrection.  Griffin committed a crime, was convicted and subsequently ousted from his position and banned from electoral politics.  Chalk up one win for the State of New Mexico, that's one less election denier who can get his hands on the levers of the vote counting process.  

I am hoping that, through this DOJ investigation of the Cochise County Board of Supervisors, there will be an indictment, trial and conviction, and two more election deniers can be removed from their elected positions, saving Cochise County a lot of grief, and assuring voters that, regardless of who they vote for, their ballots will count.