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AG Mayes sues Cochise County for reassigning election duties

Cochise County's supervisors voted to delegate all election duties to the county recorder. The attorney general said the move "steps far over the legal line."

PHOENIX — Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is suing to stop Cochise County from restructuring how it manages future elections.

The county's board of supervisors recently voted 2-1 to give all election-related responsibilities over to the county recorder. 

Most counties in Arizona have a nonpartisan elections director who oversees many of the duties of carrying out local elections. The county recorder is an elected official who also plays a role in elections by distributing ballots and registering voters.

Cochise County essentially reassigned all the election duties over to the recorder after their elections director resigned last month.

But the state attorney general believes that move "steps far over the legal line" and has filed a lawsuit to reject the county's arrangement. 

VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL: La fiscal Mayes demanda al Condado Cochise por reasignar obligaciones de elección

"The people of Cochise County will be irreparably harmed if Defendants are permitted to implement the Agreement and thereby begin to plan, organize, pay for, and conduct elections unlawfully," the lawsuit states.

Mayes argues the county made this deal "without constitutional or statutory authority" since the supervisors are assigning powers to the recorder that the Arizona Legislature had delegated to them.

Cochise County attracted much attention following November's general election after the supervisors stalled certifying their ballot results. The supervisors eventually canvassed the election results after they were compelled to do so by a judge.

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