News Roundup: Cochise County Charges

This week, two officials from Cochise County, Ariz., were indicted by a state grand jury after having refused to meet the legal deadline for certifying the state’s 2022 midterm election results.

• The Republican members of the Board of Supervisors, Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby, are charged with conspiring to delay the counting of the 2022 votes and interfering with the Arizona secretary of state’s ability to complete the statewide canvass, according to the indictment released Wednesday by the state’s attorney general. Judd and Crosby each face two Class 5 felonies. 
• Last year, Judd and Crosby voted against certifying the results, citing disproven concerns about voting machines and seeking instead to count the votes by hand. The three-member board finally certified the results last December under a court order.

• The indictments — like charges this past summer against the fake electors in Michigan, or the recent indictments of former President Trump and his co-conspirators — appear to signal a willingness to prosecute those who attempt to interfere with elections or undermine the will of the voters.
• American Oversight has filed several public records requests seeking information about the board’s decision to delay the certification as well as communications with election deniers. 
• Read more about our work in Arizona here.

• In October, a federal appeals court ruled that Florida legislators could withhold documents sought by the plaintiffs that could shed light on the creation of the law. 
• The brief calls on the 11th Circuit to grant a rehearing of the case with all 12 of the court’s judges (as opposed to the three-person panel that decided the case). 
• The brief also argues that the panel’s unprecedented ruling will hinder the ability of citizens to redress intentional discrimination by legislative bodies.

• DeSantis’ office has also been chipping away at access to public records in Florida, having approved a number of new legal exemptions designed to keep information hidden and invoked a nonexistent executive privilege to shield records.
• In July, American Oversight and other organizations filed an amicus brief challenging DeSantis’ dubious assertion of executive privilege.

• A Nov. 18 memo that Chesebro — an architect of the plan to submit false electoral slates in several states that Trump lost — sent to a Trump campaign lawyer in Wisconsin is one of the earliest records pointing to the hatching of the plot. 
• We previously obtained emails indicating that in the weeks after the 2020 election, legislative leaders in Arizona and Wisconsin sought legal advice about whether legislators had the power to alter the selection of electors after the election had taken place. 
• We’ve obtained and published thousands of pages of public records that shed light on the effort to upend U.S. democracy after the 2020 election, including the fake-electors plot and Trump’s attempted interference in the Georgia recount. Explore what we’ve uncovered here.

• Colorado GOP without evidence alleges ‘systemic fraud’ and tells canvas boards not to certify November election (Colorado Newsline)
• Mike Lindell’s conspiracy-fueled pillow company fights to survive his election obsession (Minnesota Reformer)
• ‘The poison continues to spread’: Legal losses fail to quell election denial hotbed (Guardian)
• 'Really worried': Meta decision allowing 2020 election-denial ads risks distrust, extremism, experts say (ABC News)

• Federal appeals court ruling threatens enforcement of the Voting Rights Act (Politico)
• Cascade County Commission tables election canvass amidst ballot tally confusion (Daily Montanan)
• Black North Carolina residents sue over Senate redistricting plan (NC Newsline)
• Arizona county again rejects proposal to hand-count ballots in 2024 (Votebeat)
• Ohio Supreme Court upholds new state legislative redistricting plan (Cleveland.com)
• Challenge to Wisconsin election maps undergoes sharp questioning before state Supreme Court (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
• Rightwing appeals court to consider Texas map in fresh threat to Voting Rights Act (Guardian)
• Study: Kentuckians increasingly excluded from lawmaking process by fast-track maneuvers (Kentucky Lantern)
• Thousands of fake Facebook accounts shut down by Meta were primed to polarize voters ahead of 2024 (Associated Press)

• Investigation of NC Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls may continue (NC Newsline)
• Timely donations to Gov. Lee spark rise of Tennessee charter operator with dubious ties (News from the States)
• Pa. Supreme Court justices question GOP effort to impeach Philly DA Larry Krasner (News from the States)
• More people are dying in Puerto Rico as its health-care system crumbles (Washington Post)

• Teachers and students grapple with fears and confusion about new laws restricting pronoun use (Associated Press)
• Arizona health officials and trans minors spar over sex markers on birth certificates (Arizona Mirror)
• Nebraska health professionals raise concerns about proposed gender care regulations (Omaha World-Herald)
• Nebraskans testify largely against gender care regulations, ask for looser restrictions (News from the States)
• Missouri attorney general opposes proposed federal rule supporting LGBTQ foster kids (Missouri Independent)

• Nevada judge rejects attempt to get abortion protections on 2024 ballot (Associated Press)
• Abortion rights group proposes constitutional amendment to protect access (Montana Free Press)
• Arkansas attorney general rejects wording of ballot measure seeking to repeal state’s abortion ban (Associated Press)
• Proposed Arkansas ballot measure would make abortion access a constitutional right (Arkansas Advocate)
• Texas Supreme Court to hear case Tuesday challenging state's near-total abortion ban (Austin American-Statesman)
• Idaho asks Supreme Court to let abortion law that penalizes doctors to take full effect (CNN)
• Idaho’s infant, mother death rate is rising, new report finds (Idaho Capital Sun)
• Missouri Supreme Court won’t hear Jay Ashcroft’s appeal of abortion ballot summaries (Missouri Independent)
• Ohio voters just passed abortion protections. When and how they take effect is before the courts (Associated Press)
• Secretary of State Frank LaRose says abortion opponents helped craft ballot language to aid defeat of Issue 1 (Cleveland.com)
• LGBTQ+ rights group sues over Iowa law banning school library books, gender identity discussion (Associated Press)

• Texas board rejects many science textbooks over climate change messaging (Texas Tribune)
• Controversial PragerU videos gain educational foothold in a handful of states (Michigan Advance)
• Wisconsin libraries would have to notify parents about the books their kids check out under GOP proposal (Wisconsin Public Radio)

• Worries over secrecy grow as state officials shield records from the public (Stateline)
• Arkansas declines to release police officer database, preventing public oversight of problem cops (Arkansas Advocate)
• The NYPD is upgrading its radios. The public won’t be able to tune in. (New York Times)
• Missouri AG set to finally start work on public records requests submitted this year (Missouri Independent)
• How one man's open records obsession sparked a fight over transparency and power in East Texas (Texas Tribune)

• Border Patrol sending migrants to unofficial camps in California's desert, locals say (NPR)
• Asylum in America, by the numbers (New York Times)
• Detained in the desert: Migrants stuck in camps in the extreme climate of the U.S.-Mexico border (Guardian)

• Colorado Supreme Court schedules hearing in Trump 14th Amendment case (Colorado Newsline)
• Details of Scott Perry’s role in Trump efforts to stay in power unsealed (Washington Post)
• Deutsche Bank was keen to land a ‘whale’ of a client in Trump, documents at his fraud trial show (Associated Press)

• In DC 2020 election case, Trump demands information on US government (Washington Post)
• Judge rejects Trump’s House January 6 committee subpoena request, calling it a ‘fishing expedition’ (CNN)
• Pence told Jan. 6 special counsel harrowing details about 2020 aftermath, warnings to Trump (ABC News)
• Trump plans First Amendment defense to Fulton criminal charges (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Georgia prosecutors oppose plea deals for Trump, Meadows and Giuliani (Guardian)