Inside the private pressure campaign to force hand-counting of Arizona ballots | Arizona Capitol Times

Arizona lawmakers are trying to leverage relationships with Republican county supervisors to promote a practice that state officials have repeatedly said would be illegal.

Text messages show how lawmakers have turned to counties to try to change how ballots are counted after failing to change state laws.

Two Republican supervisors in Cochise County , Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby , are facing felony charges for allegedly conspiring to interfere with the county’s midterm election.

A grassroots group led in part by Corporation Commissioner Jim O’Connor bombarded county supervisors’ email inboxes and filled the seats in county boardrooms with a call to stop using the counting machines.

Only Cochise County listened, and even there, the two Republicans on the three -member board — Judd and Crosby — wanted to keep using the machines for the initial count, but subsequently confirm those results with a full hand count.

Cochise County supervisors voted against hand-counting ballots in November .

The county elections director said a hand count of the 2024 election would cost the county more than $1 million and require hundreds of workers and many weeks .

Pinal County Attorney Kent Volkmer warned that Mayes could file criminal charges if supervisors moved forward.