A Republican county supervisor in rural Arizona who refused to certify the 2022 midterm election has agreed to a plea deal, becoming the first person criminally sanctioned for refusing to certify an election since 2020.
Peggy Judd, a Republican supervisor in Cochise county, Arizona, agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge for failing or refusing to perform an official duty by an election officer. She will serve an unsupervised probation of at least 90 days and pay a maximum $500 fine, Arizona’s Democratic attorney general, Kris Mayes, said in a press release announcing the plea deal on Monday.
Judd was charged alongside another Republican supervisor, Tom Crosby, with interference with an election officer, a class five felony. No plea deal was announced for Crosby.
The case has been watched far beyond the county as officials in other parts of the US toy with the idea of not certifying election results, a duty that is classified as ministerial and not up to the discretion of each individual elected official. The tactic has become popular with Republicans who cite false claims of voter fraud and election irregularities when they refuse to certify results at the county level, causing confusion and potentially delaying results.
A recent report by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington found that 35 local elected officials across eight states had previously refused to certify election results and could be in a position to do so again this year. Arizona is the only state that has brought criminal charges against the officials who refused to certify, according to the report.
The charges against Judd and Crosby are intended to help deter others who would consider opposing election certification, Mayes said.
“Any attempt to interfere with elections in Arizona will not be tolerated. My office will continue to pursue justice and ensure that anyone who undermines our electoral system is held accountable,” Mayes said in a statement. “Today’s plea agreement and sentencing should serve as a strong reminder that I will not hesitate to use every tool available to uphold the rule of law and protect the integrity of Arizona’s elections.”
Judd did not immediately respond to a request for comment.