¶ Cochise County, Arizona, Supervisor Tom Crosby Is A Vocal Election Denier Who Has Been Indicted For Two Felonies Related To Refusing To Certify Election Results
SUMMARY: Tom Crosby is on the Cochise County Board of Supervisors as the District One Supervisor. Crosby is a pilot who spent 26 years working in the U.S. Border Patrol, served as a city councilman in Sierra Vista, Arizona, and is a member of both the Public Safety Retirement Board and the Correction Officers Retirement Board. Crosby has filed a statement of interest form to run for reelection to the Cochise County Board of Supervisors, District One, for the 2024 election cycle.
Cochise County Republicans on the board of supervisors, including Tom Crosby, refused to certify the 2022 general election results, which prompted the ultimately failed effort to recall Crosby. The Committee to Recall Tom Crosby narrowly failed to trigger a recall election against him after falling about 560 votes short of the nearly 4,900 votes it needed. The refusal to certify the 2022 election led to the county being sued. Cochise County settled a lawsuit “in the wake of Crosby and Judd’s decisions” from an employee “who left because of a toxic work environment caused by the two supervisors” and the county’s insurance paid out $130,000 with other legal fees totaling nearly $170,000.
Then, in October 2023, Crosby and fellow supervisor Peggy Judd were subpoenaed by the Arizona Attorney General, seemingly about their “refusal to certify the election, along with their push to hand-count all ballots.” Following news of the subpoena, Crosby posted on a right-wing crowdfunding site to raise $100,000 for his legal defense and alleged that the subpoena “is almost a guaranteed indictment.” A month later, Crosby and Judd were indicted for two felonies, “conspiracy and interference with an election officer,” which are “the first criminal charges filed over a refusal to certify an election.” Arizona Attorney General Mayes said of Crosby’s indictment that “the repeated attempts to undermine our democracy are unacceptable.”
In August 2023, Tom Crosby was the only Cochise supervisor to vote for extending an experimental $1 million grant to Authentix, a “secure ballot paper” company with “political connections” to Cochise County Recorder David Stevens and Former State Rep. Mark Finchem, a “prolific proponent” of the Big Lie.”
In 2020, Crosby spread election misinformation, including claims that Democrats wouldn’t be able to “cheat enough to win,” a photo of Arizona’s fake electors “stopping the steal,” and sharing a site to aggregate claims of election fraud claims. In as early as 2012, while a Sierra Vista City Council member, Crosby raised concerns about the accuracy of the local election and promised to “eat the canvass” at the next city council meeting if the vote was inspected and no fraud was found. In 2020, he posted that he did not eat the canvass because “the city did not make sure we had the most accurate election results.”
¶ Learn More about Tom Crosby
- Biography
- Refusal To Certify The 2022 General Election Results
- Support for Controversial Ballot Security Measures Tied To Big Lie Proponent
- History Of Sharing Election Misinformation
- Miscellaneous