Cochise County asks feds to investigate disputed claims about voting machine testing — again

Same claims inspired county officials to delay certifying 2022 election, raising questions over whether they will try to defy state law again in 2026

This article was originally published by Votebeat, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access.

Four years after a conservative southeastern Arizona county tried to defy election laws, it may be gearing up to do so again.

The Cochise County Board of Supervisors voted on Feb. 24 to send a letter to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard asking her to investigate whether the laboratories charged with testing voting machines nationwide were properly accredited ahead of recent elections.

Cochise County officials have doubted the laboratories for years, despite the U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s reassurances that they were properly accredited. Those doubts were part of what prompted two of the county’s supervisors to vote to delay the certification of its election results past the legal deadline in November 2022.

A judge ultimately ordered the supervisors to certify the midterm election results, but their doubts about the laboratories — and the voting machines they test — have apparently persisted. The board sent an identical message to the U.S. Department of Justice less than six months ago.

The letters asked federal officials to review the Election Assistance Commission’s processes for accrediting testing facilities that ensure tabulators and other voting machines meet federal standards, to determine whether the county’s equipment remains properly certified, and to advise supervisors on “the proper interpretation of federal and state requirements regarding voting system compliance and lawful ballot tabulation.”

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi never responded to the county’s initial inquiry — and it’s unclear whether Gabbard will, either. A spokesperson for her office did not comment when contacted by Votebeat.

Still, Supervisor Tom Crosby, a Republican, said that the board decided to send the letter to Gabbard after she appeared at the unprecedented federal raid of an elections office in Fulton County, Georgia, last month. Gabbard later said in a letter to the U.S. Congress that President Donald Trump had requested her presence at the scene and that she had “broad statutory authority to coordinate, integrate and analyze intelligence related to election security.”

Crosby said the document established her as the “grand poobah of elections” in Washington, D.C. — so he and Board of Supervisors Chair Frank Antenori both voted to send their letter her way.

The county’s board has three members, all of whom are Republicans. Supervisor Kathleen Gomez was absent from the Feb. 24 meeting, but previously voted with her colleagues to send the same request to Bondi.

Crosby and Antenori framed their vote to reup their request as a simple inquiry designed to increase confidence in election equipment.

“It’s one tiny little piece of trying to restore integrity and confidence in the election system,” Antenori said. “That’s all this is. Nobody is doing any fishing expeditions.”

But Allison Morse, a county resident who has long voiced opposition to the supervisors’ actions in 2022 and the lone public speaker on the item, wasn’t convinced. She slammed the letter as “another futile attempt to uncover some dubious shred of evidence that there is, or was, something wrong with our voting machines.”

“Your relentless quest to find fault as a way to justify a criminal act is extraordinary,” she told the supervisors. “I don’t think you, or Ms. Gabbard, will find what you’re looking for.”

Cochise County officials continue to fight battles from 2022

The letters to the federal government are not the only signs that Cochise County officials are laying the groundwork for election challenges similar to that of 2022.

After voting to delay the certification of the election, Crosby and former Supervisor Peggy Judd were indicted on felony election interference and conspiracy charges in 2023.

Judd did not seek reelection to her seat and later took a plea deal. But Crosby pleaded not guilty and continues to fight the case. He has repeatedly attempted to get his charges dismissed and has unsuccessfully asked higher courts to review the criminal case against him.

Crosby’s new colleagues on the board appear sympathetic to his case. Over the past year, they have repeatedly and unsuccessfully asked the Arizona Counties Insurance Pool to cover his legal bills.

When appointing a new county recorder in early 2025, Antenori also said that he wanted a candidate who could handle the “political” parts of the job and was willing to “fight” for the county’s elections. And in an August 2025 meeting, the supervisors expressed an interest in re-testing Arizona’s laws regarding voting machines and election certification.

Meanwhile, Crosby’s trial has been pushed back several times — most recently because an internal report on a lead investigator for the prosecution found that he had falsified timecards and a police report unrelated to Crosby’s case.

Now, Crosby may not stand before a jury until after the midterms. In legal filings, his attorneys suggested postponing trial dates to early 2027, noting that key witnesses for both the prosecution and defense won’t be available until then.

But that delay could jeopardize Crosby’s prosecution. The case against him is being brought by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat. However, she is up for reelection in 2026, and her most prominent Republican opponent — Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen — says he would drop the case if he were to win the seat.

“This flies in the face of the theory of legislative immunity,” he told Votebeat, referencing a legal privilege that is designed to insulate legislators from punitive efforts by the executive or judicial branches of government. Crosby’s attorneys have repeatedly referenced legislative immunity while attempting to get the case against him dismissed, but judges have so far shot down the argument.

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cochise county,

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