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Attempt to Recall Cochise County Supervisor over His Election Integrity Efforts Fails

by | May 11, 2023

Cochise County Supervisor Tom Crosby survived an effort to recall him over his efforts to combat election fraud in the 2022 election. The Committee to Recall Tom Crosby announced in a news release last week that it came up 565 signatures short of the 4,865 required by May 3 to make the ballot.

The Arizona Sun Times spoke with Crosby (pictured above) about the failed effort.
“I’m very grateful to all the people that refused to sign for the recall,” he said. “I’m even more grateful to those who prayed for me about it.  I  had peace about it all.  I had a political science book titled, ‘Incomplete Conquest.’  It was the author’s way of saying our system is set up so just about any group of people can take over if they want to,” he said. ” If the people want a socialist, there are plenty to choose from.  I, as a true conservative, am not trying to get my half out of the middle.  I will inevitably aggravate leftist.  In that regard, I have told them, ‘Whether it’s conservatives telling me I’m wonderful or liberals telling me I’m terrible, the message is the same.’ It’s flattering that I aggravate liberals so much.”
He added, “So you have liberals who are irrational, and have failed to learn from history.  Besides the ‘well meaning,’ there are others that are devoted socialists, and ‘population reducers,’ that know they are destructive.  Their pride makes them think they will end up at the top of the stack, instead of in front of the firing squad if their side wins.”
Crosby said, “I had the great privilege of chatting briefly with one of my heroes, Russell Pearce a few months before he passed.  I told him, ‘If I’m 80, and there are half a dozen people lined up to shake my hand, that’ll be OK.’  I’ll be like that guy. He should have been governor, but instead, Jan Brewer rode on his back to be governor. I’d rather fight and lose, than not fight.  Russell fought.”

The recall website criticized Crosby for delaying the certification of the 2022 election. After the election, Crosby expressed concerns about election fraud and wanted to hear expert testimony about flaws with voting machine tabulators. A group of concerned Arizonans looked into the voting machine tabulators used in the state’s elections before the election and concluded they violated the law. Arizona Corporation Commissioner Jim O’Connor asked county elections officials to refrain from using them and to conduct hand counts of ballots instead.

The recall also cited Crosby’s disagreements with Cochise County Attorney Brian McIntyre. The Cochise County attorney refused to represent the Cochise County Board of Supervisors (CCBOS) in litigation arising from their concerns about fraud in the election.

The recall committee complained that Crosby’s attempt to conduct a hand count of the 2022 election cost taxpayers over $100,000. Cochise County Supervisor Peggy Judd, who the recall hinted at wanting to target also, sought to raise private funding to defend against lawsuits filed against the county by election fraud deniers like Democratic, progressive lawyer Marc Elias, who sued the county to force certification of the 2022 election.

The committee stated that “the recall effort produced significant tangible results,” praising a bipartisan coalition that “worked together to strengthen our democracy.” The committee had 120 days to collect the signatures and blamed the time limit and other factors, including “lack of knowledge, reluctance to get involved, city and county restrictions on signage, limits on places to petition” for the failure to collect enough signatures.

The effort failed to pick up much momentum. A Facebook page only acquired 158 likes and 221 followers, and a Twitter account had 68 followers. Only nine accounts followed the Instagram page. The posts received little to no interactions.

Rasmussen Reports conducted a poll in Arizona which found that a majority of likely voters, 55 percent, believe it is likely that problems with the 2022 election in Maricopa County affected the outcome. Another 35 percent say they have seen compelling evidence that makes them believe there was election fraud in the Arizona 2022 elections. Additionally, 49 percent believe that cheating affected the results of the 2020 presidential race.

Cochise County Elections Director Lisa Marra resigned earlier this year after refusing to permit a hand count of ballots. In response, the CCBOS temporarily delegated election responsibilities to Cochise County Recorder David Stevens, an election integrity proponent, which was challenged in court but upheld by a judge in April. On April 25, The CCBOS voted 2-1 to appoint Bob Bartelsmeyer to become the permanent elections director, an election integrity advocate who has experience administering elections in La Paz, Arizona, and other jurisdictions over the past several decades.

The recall committee hinted in an April 30 post on Instagram that they will attempt to recall Stevens and Bartelsmeyer next.

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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Background Photo “Recall Tom Crosby Supporters” by Recall Tom Crosby.

 

 

 

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