Growing up, there was always that one kid who could never accept losing or not getting their way.
They would change the rules halfway through the game, refuse to acknowledge when they lost or were wrong, and would often end up taking their ball and going home, as the idiom goes.
Cochise County Supervisors Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby are acting like the spoiled child who flips the Monopoly board instead of admitting defeat.
The latest attempt by them to change reality and create an alternate dimension where rules don’t matter came Friday, when they neglected to perform their duty to certify the results of the 2022 election.
After destroying any credibility or integrity they may have had over the past month by pursuing an illegal hand count of all ballots cast during the recent polling, Crosby and Judd are now hanging on the words of debunked conspiracy theorists from Maricopa County regarding claims of uncertified election machines to again cast doubt on our electoral process.
As we stated in an editorial in October deriding that attempt to subvert democracy, the only goal of these maneuvers is to disenfranchise voters and erode the fundamental principles of our election system.
A limited hand count following the recent election showed no errors or discrepancies between the machine tabulations and the human followup.
This latest move by Judd and Crosby could end up costing Cochise County voters their say in the election, which in turn would have ripple effects across the state and country.
If the board neglects to perform their ministerial duty to certify the 2022 election results by Nov. 28, all votes cast in the county could end up nullified.
“If the Board still has not certified by the state canvass deadline, the state canvass will proceed regardless, as is required under Arizona’s law, and your refusal to certify will only serve to disenfranchise Cochise County voters,” reads a letter from State Elections Director Kori Lorick.
If that were to happen, vote totals for state and federal races would be impacted, such as the neck-and-neck attorney general’s race, and Republicans with narrow margins of victory such as CD6 representative-elect Juan Ciscomani would see their rivals handed a win instead.
Numerous poll workers, members of both parties and others involved in the process have detailed on multiple occasions that elections here in Cochise County are conducted fairly and accurately, as they have been across the state and nation.
Political operatives statewide are attempting to use a minor error with ballot printers in Maricopa County to again discredit the voting process, for no other reason other than because their chosen candidates did not prevail.
We demand the county board of supervisors perform their duty and canvas the results of the 2022 election and stop engaging in behavior that will result in fewer people casting votes or trusting the voting process.
We also ask voters to remember who tried to nullify your vote and take away your voice when the board members are up for re-election in 2024.
The alternative is to keep people in power who will use any attempt, legal or not, to get their way. Instead, let’s tell them to take their ball and go home.