Arizona grand jury indicts two Cochise County supervisors on election related charges

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced a state Superior Court grand jury indictment against Cochise County Supervisors Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby related to actions in the aftermath of the 2022 midterm election.

Even though the county leans heavily Republican, the supervisors are being charged for not following the proper deadline to approve the county's election results, which included around 47,000 votes, for the statewide canvass.

Both Judd and Crosby are being charged with one count of conspiracy and one count of interference with an election officer. Neither responded to a request for comment at time of publication.

"The repeated attempts to undermine our democracy are unacceptable," Mayes said in a statement Wednesday. "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."

The charges are both class 5 felonies, which carry a minimum of six months behind bars if someone is convicted.

The conspiracy charge alleges that the supervisors were looking at stalling on approving results around Oct. 11, 2022, and Dec. 1, 2022.

On the interference charge, the indictment alleges that Judd and Cosby "knowingly interfered with the efforts of Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs to complete the canvas of the 2022 Statewide General Election by preventing the Cochise County Board of Supervisors from canvassing the election within the time period required by law, and preventing the timely transmission of the county's returns to the Secretary of State's Office for inclusion in the statewide canvass."

The county approved the results on Dec. 1, but it was only after a court order forced them to meet and do so. CBS News reported at the time that Judd and the only Democrat on the board, Ann English, attended the meeting, whereas Crosby did not attend to vote.

In Maricopa County, issues on Election Day in 2022 led to lawsuits from Republican candidates such as Kari Lake, which at some points included asking to overturn the results.