Tom Crosby Was The Vice-Chairman Of The Cochise County Board Of Supervisors In 2024. [Cochise County, Board of Supervisors, accessed 1/23/24]
Tom Crosby Was Elected To The Cochise County Board Of Supervisors District 1 As A Republican In 2020. [Cochise County, 2020 Election Results, 11/17/20]
CROSBY HAS BEEN INDICTED FOR HIS REFUSAL TO CERTIFY COCHISE COUNTY’S 2022 ELECTION RESULTS
Tom Crosby Was Indicted By An Arizona Grand Jury On Two Felony Charges – Interference With An Election Officer And Conspiracy – For His Refusal To Certify The Cochise County 2022 General Election. “An Arizona grand jury indicted two local Republican officials who balked at certifying their county’s general election results by the legal deadline in 2022 – in a standoff with state officials that drew national attention at the time. Cochise County Supervisors Peggy Judd, 61, and Tom Crosby, 64, each were charged with two felonies: interference with an election officer and conspiracy, according to the indictment.” [CNN, 11/29/23]
Tom Crosby Delayed Certifying The Results Of Cochise County’s 2022 Election Past The Legal Deadline Over Baseless Concerns About Voting Machines. “Judd and Crosby, the two Republicans on the three-person board, had delayed certification over what they said were concerns about whether vote-tallying machines had been properly certified. At the time, the secretary of state’s office countered that the machines had been tested and certified and argued that the recalcitrant board members were advancing debunked conspiracy theories. In early December 2022 – several days after Cochise County’s legal deadline to do so – Judd and the board’s sole Democrat voted to certify the general election results, following a court order.” [CNN, 11/29/23]
Tom Crosby Did Not Vote To Canvass Cochise County’s 2022 Election Results And Missed The State Deadline Claiming To Allow The Public The Opportunity To Comment But Spreading Baseless Conspiracies About Vote Tabulation Machines Instead. “The indictments relate to actions the two Republican supervisors took almost exactly one year ago; on November 28, 2022, supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd did not vote to canvass the 2022 General Election, thereby failing to meet the state’s deadline; instead, Crosby said he wanted to wait until December to allow public comment. ‘In the politically liberal viewpoint that may prevail at Melody Lane does not prevail in this county,’ said Crosby during the November 28, 2022 meeting. The delay surrounded doubts about the vote tabulation machines’ accuracy. The Arizona Secretary of State’s Election Services Director at the time assured the board that the machines were certified for accuracy. ‘The equipment used in Cochise County is properly certified under both federal and state laws and requirements,’ said Kori Lorick, who was then Election Services Director for the Secretary of State during the November 18, 2022 Cochise Supervisors meeting. ‘The claims that the SLI testing labs were not properly accredited are false.’” [AZPM, 11/29/23]
Tom Crosby Did Not Attend The Meeting Where Cochise County Supervisors Ultimately Voted To Certify The Election After A Court Order. “A judge in December of last year ordered the board to canvass the election results. Judd said during the December emergency meeting called to comply with the judge's order that she did not regret her actions. ‘I am a rule of law person but I had statutes in front of me that said something to me,’ said Judd at the December 1, 2022 emergency meeting. ‘And I am not ashamed of anything I did. And today, I feel I must because of a court ruling …I feel like I must follow what the judge did today.’ Crosby did not attend that meeting and did not vote on the matter — leaving the vote to Judd and Democratic Supervisor Ann English, who both voted to approve the election results as the official canvass.” [AZPM, 11/29/23]
CROSBY HAS BEEN ACCUSED OF REPEATEDLY VIOLATING STATE OPEN MEETING LAW, INCLUDING WHILE PUSHING FOR A HAND COUNT
Tom Crosby And Peggy Judd Were Accused Of Holding A Private Meeting WIth The Then-County Election Director To Push For A 100% Hand Count Audit. “The first instance alleges that in November 2022, Supervisors Crosby and Peggy Judd met in a private, a meeting that was not publicly noticed, to file a lawsuit against then County Elections Director Lisa Marra in an effort to get her to conduct a 100% hand count audit of the 2022 General Election. The letter says that the complaint also alleges that the two supervisors met yet again without public notice a few days later to withdraw the lawsuit. Marra later resigned from her position in January, with her resignation finalized in February. The county was given 15 days to address Marra's grievances of a hostile work environment. Marra now is the Deputy State Elections Director for the Arizona Secretary of State's office.” [AZPM, 8/2/23]
Arizona’s Attorney General Accused Tom Crosby Of Repeatedly Ignoring Legal Advice From The Cochise County Attorney Over Open Meeting Law Violations. “Attorney General Kris Mayes says that she continues to receive complaints about the board and potential open meeting law violations, with many that center on Republican Supervisor Tom Crosby. In the letter sent to the board Monday, Mayes wrote that many of the complaints date to more than a year ago. She said she is concerned about Crosby’s conduct and that the evidence submitted to her office indicates that he has repeatedly ignored legal advice from the County Attorney about potential open meeting law violations. The letter concluded that any additional potential open meeting law violations will be considered as further evidence in her ongoing investigation of the board’s conduct and she will pursue all penalties available under the law and ‘up to and including 'remov[al of] the public officer from office' if appropriate.’ Arizona law says that if a court determines that a public officer intended to deprive the public of information and knowingly violated open meeting law, the court can remove the public officer from their office. This letter follows two others sent to the Cochise County Board of Supervisors by the Attorney General's Office about potential open meeting law violations earlier this year. The letter sent to the board in February raised concerns about the board's conduct in 2022, which lists three instances that the Attorney General received complaints about the board violating open meeting law.” [AZPM, 8/2/23]