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Cochise County officials want the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate a longstanding and disputed claim that the federal laboratories that test voting systems across the country weren’t properly accredited before the 2022 midterm election.
The supervisors of the southern Arizona county voted Tuesday to send a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi asking the agency to look into the laboratory accreditation, the validity of the certifications of the county’s voting systems before the 2022 election, and “the proper interpretation of federal and state requirements regarding voting system compliance and lawful ballot tabulation.”
Claims that the labs that test voting systems aren’t properly accredited have circulated for years. They’re part of what led two Republican Cochise supervisors in November 2022 to vote to delay the certification of the county’s midterm election results past the legal deadline. A judge later ordered the supervisors to certify the election.
Officials with the U.S. Election Assistance Commission told state officials at the time, and reiterated in an August statement to Votebeat, that the labs were properly accredited.
A year after their vote to delay the certification, a state grand jury indicted the two supervisors, Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd, on charges of conspiracy and interference with an elections officer. Judd has since pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. But Crosby pleaded not guilty, and is awaiting a trial.
The vote to send a letter to the Justice Department came a day after a judge rejected Crosby’s request to postpone a Sept. 22 hearing for setting his trial date. The judge decided that the hearing will proceed.
Crosby, who was reelected last year, proposed sending the letter. As he has unsuccessfully asked judges to dismiss his case over the last six months, he has also continued to raise the issue of the laboratories’ accreditation in public meetings, attempting to gain the support of the county’s two new supervisors, also both Republicans.
Most of the supervisors’ discussion Tuesday occurred in an executive session closed to the public, so it’s not clear whether or how the letter they sent to the Justice Department differed from what Crosby proposed. Crosby attached a 30-page document to the meeting minutes that included a piece of grand jury testimony from his case, and details about a related court case on state election rules regarding certification.
It also included a court document from November 2022 when Crosby’s personal attorney unsuccessfully sought to move the case regarding the certification delay from a county superior court to federal court. Crosby said on Tuesday that he again wants it to “go to federal court,” indicating he hoped the federal government would go to court after hearing from the supervisors.
Crosby did not return a text message asking for his intent in sending the letter.
The letter calls for the Justice Department to investigate the interpretation of federal and state laws on voting systems. It’s up to the courts to decide how laws should be interpreted, but the Justice Department issues legal opinions, typically at the request of the president or executive branch agencies.
Jen Fifield is a reporter for Votebeat based in Arizona. Contact Jen at jfifield@votebeat.org.
