Arizona County Official Accepts Plea Deal for Delaying Certification of 2022 Election

An elections worker scans mail in ballots at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in Phoenix, Ariz., on Nov. 7, 2022. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

An Arizona county official has accepted a plea deal after being charged with delaying certification of the 2022 midterm election in Cochise County, in which she cited concerns over election integrity.

Cochise County Supervisor Peggy Judd entered into the agreement on Oct. 21, pleading guilty to a class 3 misdemeanor of refusing to perform the duty of an election officer, allowing her to avoid a felony that she and another supervisor were charged with last year over their decision to delay certifying the vote in the Nov. 8, 2022, general election past the statutory deadline.

Under the plea deal, Judd will be sentenced to unsupervised probation for 90 days and must pay a $500 fine, according to Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes.

“Any attempt to interfere with elections in Arizona will not be tolerated,” Mayes said in a statement. “Today’s plea agreement and sentencing should serve as a strong reminder that I will not hesitate to use every tool available to uphold the rule of law and protect the integrity of Arizona’s elections.”

Judd and fellow Cochise County Supervisor Tom Crosby, both Republicans, voted against certifying the county’s vote canvass ahead of the Nov. 28, 2022 certification deadline set by state law.

At a meeting of the Cochise County Board of Supervisors, during which Judd voted against certifying the results, she cited distrust in the election’s voting machines, along with the lack of a hand recount. Prior to the midterm election, both Judd and Crosby voted for the hand count but their efforts were blocked by a court in response to a legal challenge.

Katie Hobbs, who at the time was serving as the Arizona Secretary of State and has since been elected governor, sued Cochise County over the lack of timely certification.

Hobbs alleged that, under Arizona law, the board was “required to meet and canvass the election by November 28th—but the Board has failed to take this required action,” arguing that the board’s inaction threatened to “potentially disenfranchise the [tens of thousands of] voters of Cochise County.”

Ultimately, a state judge ruled from the bench on Dec. 1, 2022, that it was unlawful for the board not to certify the election results.

Pima County Superior Court Judge Casey McGinley found that state law is clear that the board has no statutory authority to reject the results of an election and has a nondiscretionary duty to canvass the votes. The only scenario under which the board can delay the canvass beyond the deadline is if any of the results are missing.

The judge’s decision prompted an emergency meeting, at which the county board, including Judd, voted to certify the results in compliance with the order, with Crosby absent that day.

The indictment against Judd and Crosby alleges that, between Oct. 11, 2022, and Dec. 1, 2022, the two conspired to delay the canvass of votes cast in Cochise County during the midterm election—a felony charge. It further alleges that from Nov. 14 to Nov. 28, 2022, the pair knowingly interfered with election officers’ duties, preventing the timely transmission of the county’s election results to Hobbs’s office, also a felony charge.

Crosby, who has pleaded not guilty, still faces the two felony counts.

Judd’s plea deal allows her to avoid the felony charges and retain her right to vote—along with her seat on the Cochise County Board of Supervisors.

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated Hobbs’s political position after she served as secretary of state. The Epoch Times regrets the error.