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Officials in a rural, Republican-controlled county in Arizona have voted to delay certifying the results of this month’s midterm elections and miss the state’s legal deadline of Monday, despite finding no legitimate problems with the local counts.
The move by the board of supervisors for Cochise County in southeastern Arizona, near Tucson, puts more than 47,000 Arizonans’ votes at risk and is expected to set off court action.
« 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.
