Mohave County Board of Supervisors chairman reluctantly certifies election

PHOENIX — Mohave County Board of Supervisors Chairman Ron Gould said Monday he chose to canvass the 2022 Arizona general election because otherwise, he’d be arrested.

“What we found out today from the county attorney is, essentially, if I have a question with how our election is run and I don’t get my question answered, I have no choice but to canvass the election, which is the technical word for certifying it,” Ron Gould told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Gaydos and Chad Show on Monday.

“Or I’ll be charged with a felony.”

In what was initially done as a political statement over tabulator issues at some Maricopa County vote centers, the board approved the elections along with the state’s largest county on Monday – leaving Cochise County as the lone holdout on Monday’s deadline.

“Originally, we postponed it from last Monday’s meeting as a political statement to let the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors know that we were displeased with the poor handling of their election,” he said.

Gould explained that they chose to make the political statement because when elections are run poorly in the state’s most populous county it disenfranchises the smaller, rural counties.

He added: “I found out I had no choice but to certify or I’d be arrested. I have a complaint with that system.”

However, according to Gould, some voters in the county did not want him to certify the election.

If the county hadn’t canvassed the election, it could’ve faced uncertainty moving forward, similar to Cochise County. The county’s vote would be excluded if the supervisors don’t certify the statewide canvass by the Dec. 5 deadline.

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs filed a lawsuit Monday night against the Cochise County Board of Supervisors for not certifying the election by the state’s required Nov. 28 deadline.

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