In August 2023, Tom Crosby Was The Only Cochise Supervisor To Vote For Extending An Experimental $1 Million Grant To 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 August 2023, Tom Crosby Was The Only Cochise County Board Of Supervisors Member To Vote For Extending The Time Period For A $1 Million Grant For Authentix, A “Secure Ballot Paper” Company Whose State Grant Expired In May 2023. “Cochise County will only be able to work with one company to test security features on ballots in Arizona as part of a state pilot this year — and it’s not the company with political connections that pushed for the work. Cochise County supervisors on Tuesday voted 1-2 against extending the time period for a $1 million state grant for the secure ballot paper that expired in May — this means County Recorder David Stevens’ proposed contract with Authentix will not move forward. Supervisors Ann English and Peggy Judd voted no, and Supervisor Tom Crosby voted yes.” [AZ Mirror, 8/23/23]
Authentix Was Politically Connected To Former Arizona State Representative Mark Finchem, A ”Prolific Proponent” Of Election Fraud Conspiracy Theories, And The State Grant Appeared To Be “Tailored” By Cochise County Recorder David Stevens, A “Good Friend Of Finchem.” “Texas-based Authentix has partnered with former state Rep. Mark Finchem to try to make its security products mandatory on ballots across the country. A Votebeat investigation published earlier this month found that Stevens — a good friend of Finchem — appeared to have tailored the Cochise pilot to fit Authentix’s products.” [AZ Mirror, 8/23/23]
In June 2022, Arizona Lawmakers Approved A Budget Proposal That Included A Measure To Begin A Pilot Program That Would “Place Ballot Drop Boxes That Have 24/7 Photo And Video Surveillance” In Three Arizona Counties. “Two small election-related measures made it into a budget proposal Arizona lawmakers approved early Thursday morning on a bipartisan vote. With that hurdle cleared, the Legislature could approve more election bills in the coming days. [...] Both are pilot programs that direct election security grants to counties: $1 million for the testing of ballot paper that incorporates additional security features and $500,000 for ballot drop boxes featuring new surveillance and security elements. [...] The line item on ballot boxes designates $500,000 to purchase and put in place ballot drop boxes that have 24/7 photo and video surveillance. The boxes would need other features ensuring they accept only one ballot at a time, create a receipt of each ballot, and reject ballots if the camera isn’t working. The bill specifies that these boxes, 16 in total, will be piloted in Cochise, Yuma, and Pinal counties.” [Votebeat, 6/23/22]