An Arizona county has refused to certify election results by the legal deadline

Hansi Lo Wang

November 28, 2022 / 10:37 am

caption: People wait in line to vote early on Election Day 2020 in Tombstone, Ariz., in Cochise County. The county's Republican-led leadership has voted to delay certifying its 2022 election results, despite a state deadline on Monday.

There is no reason for us to delay," said the board's chair, Ann English, a Democrat, whose vote was outnumbered by the county's two Republican supervisors, Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd.

Before Monday's vote, Arizona's state election director, Kori Lorick, said in a statement that the state's secretary of state "will use all available legal remedies to compel compliance with Arizona law and protect Cochise County voters' right to have their votes counted" if the board failed to complete its "non-discretionary duty."

Updated November 28, 2022 at 2:59 PM ET

Many election watchers have been raising concerns that Republican officials may disrupt the process for making the election results official after GOP leaders in Cochise County voted on Nov. 18 to wait to decide whether to certify the results until the legal deadline on Monday.

They cited claims about the certification of election equipment, which Lorick confirmed had been tested and properly certified. Still, Crosby and Judd have called for a meeting on Friday to discuss the claims.

In the opposite corner of Arizona, another Republican-controlled county — Mohave County — may end up following Cochise County's lead in not certifying election results. Last week, GOP officials there said they want to hold off on making a decision until Monday's deadline in order to make a political statement. They recessed their meeting Monday and are set to resume their discussion later in the day.

The controversy over local vote certifications comes as Republicans continue to criticize the election administration in Arizona's Maricopa County, the state's largest county and home to Phoenix. Maricopa's Republican leadership has defended its handling of the election and said no voters were disenfranchised as a result of technical issues. Still, GOP candidates for governor and state attorney general have questioned the results and sought more information after electronic vote-counting tabulators malfunctioned early on Election Day in some of the county's voting locations.