Plea deal reached in Cochise County election interference case: Arizona Attorney General

PHOENIX - Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said a plea deal has been reached with one of two defendants in an election interference case involving a southeastern Arizona county.

In a statement released on Oct. 21, it was announced that Peggy Judd entered a guilty plea in the case against her.

"Mrs. Judd acknowledged that she failed to canvass the election as required by law and agreed to plead guilty to Failure or Refusal to Perform Duty by an Election Officer, a Class 3 misdemeanor," read a portion of the statement. "Mrs. Judd will be sentenced to unsupervised probation for not less than 90 days. She will also pay a maximum $500 fine."

"We don’t have much of a comment except that she is super happy to put this behind her," said Judd’s attorney Kurt Altman.

Coming two weeks before the Nov. 5 general election, the acknowledgment of guilt by Cochise County Supervisor Peggy Judd was seen by some as a warning to other Arizona county officials who might once again be pressured by election conspiracists not to certify the results.

"Judd’s official guilty plea represents an important development in securing election integrity in Arizona," said Thomas Volgy, a former Tucson, Arizona, mayor and professor at the University of Arizona, where he specializes in democratic processes. "It should be a loud wake-up call to county elected officials that they cannot fiddle with the vote intentions of Arizonans for cheap partisan gain."

Peter Bondi, managing director of the nonprofit group Informing Democracy, said in a statement that Judd’s plea "is a clear reminder that the duty to certify is not optional, and should deter every election official from attempting to subvert the will of voters."

"This is a victory for democracy, the rule of law, and most importantly for every voter who casts a ballot this year," Bondi said.

Judd indicted along with another Cochise County supervisor

Cochise County Supervisor Peggy Judd (Courtesy: Cochise County Government)

Judd is listed on the Cochise County Government website as one of the county's three supervisors. Her biography on the county website states that she has been a Willcox resident for most of her life, and once served as an Arizona state lawmaker in 2011 and 2012.

In November 2023, we reported that Judd, along with a man identified by the Attorney General's Office as Terry Thomas "Tom" Crosby, were indicted for alleged Interference with an Election Officer and Conspiracy, both of which are felonies. Like Judd, Crosby is a Cochise County Supervisor.

"The indictment filed November 27, 2023, in Maricopa County Superior Court alleges that on or between October 11, 2022, and December 1, 2022, Judd and Crosby conspired to delay the canvass of votes cast in Cochise County in the November 2022 General Election," read a portion of the statement announcing Crosby and Judd's indictments. "The indictment further alleges that Judd and Crosby knowingly interfered with the Arizona Secretary of State’s ability to complete the statewide canvass for the 2022 General Election, by preventing the canvass of votes from Cochise County from occurring during the time period required by Arizona law."

In December 2022, Cochise County certified election results only after a judge ruled Crosby and Judd, both Republicans, were breaking the law by refusing to sign off on the vote count by the deadline. Crosby and Judd said they weren’t satisfied that the machines used to tabulate ballots were properly certified for use in elections. This prompted lawsuits, including one from then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat.

Both Crosby and Judd had pleaded not guilty to the charges that were filed against them during a court appearance in December 2023.

Crosby is still set to go to trial on the charge in January and is running for reelection in November. Judd did not seek to be reelected. When reached by email on Monday, Crosby seemed to have been unaware of Judd’s plea, but he did not respond to a request to comment on it.

Arizona was once reliably Republican, but Democrats have gained increased influence in recent years, especially in urban areas like Phoenix, which has become one of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S. as people move in from other states for a growing number of jobs.