BISBEE, Ariz. (KGUN) — Cochise County Supervisors are defying state law to order a hand count of election ballots along with the usual machine count. What hand count advocates call a boost for election security, opponents call an effort to undermine confidence in the vote.
They were warned they were breaking the law, they were warned they’d be sued but Cochise County supervisors voted two to one to hand count election ballots.
The meeting that kept a room packed for four hours was a follow up to an earlier meeting that ran almost that long. Supervisors Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby pushed for the hand count in the name of verifying Cochise County’s machine Count.
Hand count advocates ranged from “What's the harm in verifying” to those who claim voting machines are not certified so all machine votes are invalid.
Hand Count Advocate David Wood said, “It is a vote not by the people but by a private company and by those who conspire with these private companies.”
Opponents say there’s plenty of harm in even attempting to organize hundreds of volunteers to hand count thousands of ballots this close to the election.
Elizabeth Lopez/ Hand Count Opponent
Elizabeth Lopez said, “I can’t understand why you feel the need to inject chaos, fear and doubt into an election that’s only two weeks away. You say a hand count will assuage people’s fears, well yes, the very fears your party has instilled in them through baseless lies.”
Hand Count opponents worry some of the ballot counters could look at early ballots and leak information on who’s winning and losing.
The Cochise County Attorney repeated his office’s advice that state law says Supervisors have no authority to change election procedures. He says if they ignore his advice he can’t defend them against lawsuits like the one Arizona’s Secretary of State promised to file, and he’d even tell county employees they should not do anything to enforce an unlawful order for a hand count.
The County’s insurance coordinator said the county’s insurance will not cover anything to do with an illegal hand count.
But Supervisors still voted two to one to order a hand count with Supervisor Ann English as the single no vote.