Arizona authority, responsible for postponing the approval of 2022 election results, acknowledges guilt.
Cochise County Supervisor Peggy Judd dodged a possible severe conviction by accepting a plea bargain, arranged in Maricopa County Superior Court, where the legal proceedings were initiated. Judd together with her lawyer declined to answer emailed queries for further clarification promptly.
Judd and GOP companion Tom Crosby on the three-member board were accused in the previous year of felony charges, including conspiracy and impediment of an election officer, following their postponement of the canvass. The Democratic member, Ann Crosby, supported the verification of the election. Eventually, the Cochise County results were authenticated beyond the deadline following a court order directing Judd and Crosby to fulfill their statutory duties.
"Judd's official admission of guilt marks a significant advancement in safeguarding electoral integrity in Arizona," asserted Thomas Volgy, a former Mayor of Tucson, Arizona, and a professor at the University of Arizona, focusing on democratic procedures. "This ought to serve as a striking warning to county-level officials that they can't manipulate the voting intentions of Arizona residents for trivial partisan rewards."
Judd will be penalized with unsupervised probation for a minimum of 90 days and must pay a maximum fine of $500, announced an assistant to Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes.
"Any maneuver to disrupt elections in Arizona will not be tolerated," Mayes emphasized after the plea was entered. "My office will carry on its pursuit of justice and guarantee that anyone who sabotages our electoral system is held responsible."
"Today's plea agreement and sentencing must serve as a potent reminder that I won't hesitate to employ every possible method to uphold the rule of law and shield the integrity of Arizona's elections," she further remarked.
Judd and Crosby pursued a manual recount of all the county's ballots upon the wave of unfounded conspiracy theories regarding the vote's integrity and protracted public hearings that extended for lengthy hours. They also raised some questions about the credibility of vote-tabulating machines. The GOP endured losses in the races for governor and attorney general to the Democrats towards the end of November 2022.
Crosby remains due for trial on the charge in January and is actively campaigning for reelection in November. Judd did not express interest in recontesting her position, however. Neither Crosby neither spoke to the media on Judd's guilty plea on Monday.
The accusations against Judd and Crosby in politics involved felony charges related to election interference. The guilty plea from Judd has sparked concerns about election manipulation in politics.
