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County mired in frivolous lawsuits, sketchy hire
We’re peeved about the costly elections-related tussles in Cochise County: failed attempts to conduct an illegal 100% hand count of ballots; a lawsuit filed by two supervisors during an Open Meeting Law violation to compel our elections director to break the law; the intentional delay of canvassing election results and the transfer of election duties to our partisan election skeptic recorder.
Committee falls short of required signatures to prompt election to oust Cochise County supervisor
The Committee to Recall Tom Crosby announced last night, “with disappointment,” that it failed to collect enough signatures by deadline to trigger an election to oust the controversial Cochise County supervisor.
Newly hired Cochise County elections director draws criticism for social media posts
The Cochise County Board of Supervisors’ vote to hire Bob Bartelsmeyer, former La Paz County elections director, to take over the election operations, drew criticism as some cited his social media posts dabbling in election denial sentiments.
Cochise County supervisors approve reorganization of election duties
The Cochise County Board of Supervisors approved an agreement to reorganize election duties under Recorder David Stevens in a 2-1 partisan vote.
Republican losses fan election conspiracies in rural Arizona
Last year was a tough one for the election denial movement in Arizona. Its candidates for U.S. Senate, governor, secretary of state and attorney general all lost. But it's still thriving in rural Cochise County, a vivid example of how paranoia about elections fanned by former President Donald Trump maintains a stubborn grip in rural parts of the country.
How an Arizona official is making Cochise County a “laboratory” for election skepticism
David Stevens had never supervised a ballot count. He didn’t know how he would count nearly 50,000 ballots by hand, who would help, or where he would find enough space to do it. But that didn’t dissuade him.
Cochise County delays election certification, despite risk of violating law
Cochise County Supervisors Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby voted today to defy the election certification deadline and delayed their vote to Friday, putting the county in violation of Arizona law and at risk of nullifying their residents’ votes.
Arizona county mulls ballot hand-count, but lawyer says no
Officials in a southeastern Arizona county were prepared to move ahead with a plan to hand count all ballots in November's election alongside the normal machine count on Tuesday, but at the last minute the county attorney told the board they had no legal authority to do so.
Lawmaker says she’s dropping illegal immigration-reporting bill
Leaders of border communities have persuaded a lawmaker to withdraw legislation that would have required the state to alert the public to dangers caused by illegal immigration. Rep. Peggy Judd, R-Willcox, made the decision after meeting Monday with a group including the mayors of Nogales and Douglas and a representative of a produce-growers organization.
Border town leaders upset over warning bill
Leaders in some Arizona border communities have been stepping up their opposition to a bill in the Legislature that would require the state police director to "immediately warn" the public about dangers involving illegal immigration, possibly in emails or in social media.
Capitol Quotes: Oct. 14, 2011
This week’s most outstanding utterances, gibes and quips.
New lawmaker profile: Rep. Peggy Judd, R-Willcox
This is one of a series of biographical sketches Cronkite News Service is producing about new members of the Arizona State Legislature. Each follows this format and includes a mugshot and video.
