Arizona's Democratic Attorney General Announces Election Charges Against Two Republican Officials
Arizona’s Democratic Attorney General is making no secret of his crackdown on Republican opposition.
Kris Mayes, who was narrowly elected as Arizona attorney general last year after multiple recounts, announced the charges in a media release on Wednesday.
Mayes revealed that a State Grand Jury had returned felony indictments against Peggy Suzanne Judd, 61, of Willcox, and Terry Crosby, age 64, of Sierra Vista, and charged the pair with Interference with an Election Officer and Conspiracy.
Judd and Crosby, both of whom are Republicans, currently serve as Cochise County Supervisors.
“The repeated attempts to undermine our democracy are unacceptable,” Mayes said in a statement.
.@AZAGMayes today announced that the State Grand Jury has returned an indictment charging Peggy Suzanne Judd of Willcox, and Terry Thomas “Tom” Crosby of Sierra Vista, with the felony offenses of Interference with an Election Officer and Conspiracy. https://t.co/JUGP6aMYag
— Arizona Attorney General’s Office (@arizonaago) November 29, 2023
“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,” he continued.
According to the indictment, Judd and Crosby “knowingly interfered with the Arizona Secretary of State’s ability to complete the statewide canvass for the 2022 General Election by preventing the canvass of votes from Cochise County from occurring during the time period required by Arizona law.”
NBC reports that the issue began before the election even took place after Judd and Crosby expressed doubts about the security of voting machines and insisted that all ballots should be counted by hand.
After their requests to do so were denied, both Judd and Crosby refused to certify the results for their respective county by the statuatory deadline.
The results were eventually certified, but only after a court ordered the county to do so. Both charges are Class 5 felonies, carrying individual prison terms of between six months and two years.
Meanwhile, Axios noted that Crosby’s attorney, Dennis Wilenchik, told the publication that the “the interference charge has no basis because the board certified its results before the statutory deadline for the secretary of state to canvass the statewide results.”
“The Indictment is the product of nothing but political partisanship,” he was quoted as saying.
The indictment is just one of a litany of cases brought against Republican officials and lawmakers who raised doubt about the integrity of statewide elections.
Of all the ongoing cases, the most prominent is that in Fulton County, Georgia, where former President Donald Trump is listed as one of its primary defendants.
The charges, brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in August, accused Trump and 18 others of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, as well as racketeering, violating the oath of a public officer, forgery, false statements and other offenses.
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