Arizona officials charged over election results certification delay plead not guilty

A pair of Arizona election officials pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of interfering in the certification of the 2022 midterm results in their county.

The Cochise County supervisors, Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby, questioned whether machines used for tabulating ballots in the midterms were properly certified for elections, despite state and federal officials’ approval. The board certified the results three days after the deadline.

Judd and Crosby pleaded not guilty on charges of interference with an election officer and conspiracy during the brief arraignment hearing Thursday, The Associated Press reported. The officials were informed of additional court dates, including a trial slated for May 16.

Kurt Altman, Judd’s attorney, disputed the charges, according to the AP.

“We feel like there is no basis for these charges,” Altman said. “She was charged for doing her job.”

Crosby’s lawyer, Tim Grimm, declined to comment after the hearing. 

Cochise County’s board of supervisors voted to certify the 2022 midterm results after a judge ruled that Crosby and Judd violated the law by not greenlighting the vote count before the deadline. Judd and the board’s only Democrat, Supervisor Ann English, voted to certify the results, while Crosby did not attend the meeting.

The delay in Cochise County could have altered results in some close races. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D), who was then serving as Arizona secretary of state, warned the county’s numbers might not be factored into statewide results due to delays.

The supervisors wanted Hobbs to prove that machines intended for tabulating ballots were approved for vote-counting before they would be willing to approve the results of the election.