Cochise County supervisors delay election certification

Cochise County supervisors voted Friday night to delay their canvass of the 2022 election until someone can prove to them their vote tabulators were properly certified.

The vote came twoand-a-half hours into a meeting where members of the public raised concerns that the laboratories that certify such equipment didn’t have the proper credentials.

State Elections Director Kori Lorick from the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office called into the meeting in Bisbee to reassure the supervisors the machines and election-equipment testing labs were properly accredited, but that was not sufficient for Republicans Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd after they heard members of the public question the machines.

“If our presenters’ request is met by the proof that our machines are indeed legally, lawfully accredited, then indeed we should accept the results,” Crosby said. “However, if the machines have not been lawfully certificated, then the converse is also true, that we cannot certify this election now with the machines not lawfully certificated by an accredited laboratory.”

Crosby and Judd voted to delay the canvass until 10 a.m. Nov. 28, and until someone with “expertise” can prove to them the machines and labs that certify them all had the proper certifications as required by law. That day is the latest county officials can take such an action.

Crosby said he trusted the expertise of the members of the public who questioned the machine certifications as much as the state elections director.

“I have no reason of this present time to think Cochise County’s 2020 election was dishonest,” Crosby said. “I’m not saying voting machines can’t be hacked. I’m personally inclined to think they probably can be hacked. I do not know if they were hacked or not.”

Lorick said after the meeting that the supervisors have until Nov. 28 to transmit the canvass to the Secretary of State’s Office.

“If they fail to do so, the secretary will use all available legal remedies to compel compliance with Arizona law and protect Cochise County voters’ right to have their votes counted,” Lorick said.

What happened with lab certification

During the meeting, Lorick tried to reassure the supervisors that the concerns over the machines were moot and in fact were dismissed in an Arizona Supreme Court case earlier this year.

The Arizona Supreme Court tossed a case in May that sought to remove several elected officials from office because of a minor snafu in the labs’ certifications. The two companies in the country that certify election machines did not complete a by-the-book certification as outlined in the federal Help America Vote Act.

The certificate of one company, SLI Compliance, expired in January 2021. The certificate for the other, Pro V&V, expired in 2017. Their certifications remained active, according to the federal Election Assistance Commission.

Both companies had continued to have accreditation assessments from the agency, a spokesperson for the Election Assistance Commission said in an email earlier this year to The Arizona Republic.

“The equipment used in Cochise County is properly certified under both federal and state laws and requirements,” Lorick said. “The claims that the SLI (Compliance) testing labs were not properly accredited are false. The U.S. Election

Assistance Commission has addressed this issue explaining that an administrative error led to the lab not receiving an updated certificate. This did not mean that the lab was out of compliance nor does it mean they had lost accreditation.”

SLI Compliance got a new certificate in February last year, according to the Election Assistance Commission, as did Pro V&V.

A man identifying himself as Paul Rice of Phoenix at one point was given 18 minutes to speak as other speakers yielded their time to him. He said this election and all of those since 2017 are not valid.

“With all due respect to the board of supervisors and all the elected officials, everyone here is in office illegally really for the last three elections … because the machines have not been certified since 2017,” Rice said.

One of the men involved in the failed legal challenge involving claims about the testing labs, Daniel Wood of Maricopa, spoke at Friday’s meeting, and accused the county attorney of threatening the county officials who wanted a recount in that county.

“You want to threaten people, well, I’m your huckleberry,” Wood said. “Am I going to get the same treatment. Are you going to come after me? ... You are attacking the people. You are going against the people.”

Later in the meeting, he apologized for the comment. Wood lost a bid to serve as Arizona’s representative in the 3rd Congressional District in 2020.