Some Pinal County Citizens still want hand counting for elections

VIA SBINSIDER| November 4th, 2023

Despite an Appellate court ruling that hand counting of ballots is not allowed under the Arizona Constitution, conservative activists have asked the Pinal County Board of Supervisors to put consideration of the matter on a future board agenda.

The court case stems from Cochise County where two of the three board (Republicans Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby) members initially refused to certify 2022 the election as required by law, claiming the tabulating machines were not properly certified for accuracy. After a court ruling that both supervisors were breaking the law, they capitulated and voted to certify.

Pinal County certified their vote totals a week after the election, but during the subsequent required recount due to the small margin in the Attorney General’s race, a box of ballots was discovered that had not been counted election night. This reduced the margin of victory for Attorney General Kris Mayes to 280 votes overall.

Now Attorney General Mayes has decided to subpoena the two Cochise supervisors, raising the stakes on their election certification actions. The subpoenas are criminal in nature and therefore the Cochise County attorney will not represent them. The grand jury hearing is November 13th and appears to many that Mayes, a Democrat, is seeking to punish and intimidate those elected officials and others who might try the same tactic in a future election. The AG has broad investigative powers and the cost of legal representation is a way to send a strong message. This comes nearly a full year after the election this past November.

Pinal County Response 

The Pinal County Republican Chairwoman, Belinda Rodriquez,  sent an email asking the precinct committee members to contact Pinal County Board members and put an agenda item before the board for discussion of the impact of the Appeals Court decision for future elections.

At the board meeting November 1st during the Call to the Public, several citizens did ask for the agenda item.

You can watch the citizen comment 3 minute video from this LINK. 

It will be up to the members of the Board whether or not to add this item for a future meeting. SaddleBrooke is represented on the Board by Jeff McClure. He can be reached at this LINK.