A Republican-led county in Arizona that flouted a statutory deadline for election certification ended up certifying its results Thursday after a judge ordered officials there to take action.
On November 8, officials in Cochise County voted 2 -- 0 to accept the results of the Nov. 8 election, allowing statewide certification to move forward Monday.
Ann English, the sole Democrat on the three-member Board of Supervisors, and Vice Chair Peggy Judd, a Republican, voted to approve the election results. Tom Crosby, a GOP member, was absent.
Judd said before the vote that he was not ashamed of anything I did. Judd said she felt compelled to act because of the judge's order, but she doesn't like to be threatened. The Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs sued Cochise County this week after the two Republicans on the board voted to delay certifying the election results. The county postponed certification at a Nov. 18 meeting.
It was the only Arizona county that didn't meet the deadline for certification.
The results in Cochise County, which just over 47,000 votes were cast, would have effectively swung the House race in the 6th Congressional District in the Democratic candidate's favor, if the results were not tabulated. The certification ensures that the Republican Juan Ciscomani will be the official winner in the race.
Hobbs praised Pima County Superior Court Judge Casey McGinley's order compelling the county to canvass its results.
She said today that the court decision was a win for Arizona's democracy and ensures that all Arizonans will have their votes counted.
McGinley ordered the board to meet Thursday afternoon to certify the results and give them to Hobbs, according to a hearing earlier in the day.
Hobbs defeated Trump-backed Kari Lake in the race for governor last month. Voters in Cochise County favored Lake, a prominent election denier who has refused to concede.
Under state law, Arizona is supposed to certify its results by December 8 — with or without certification from all counties.