Katie Hobbs’ office warned the County Board of Supervisors of execution if it didn’t verify her election outcome before a Monday deadline.
Kori Lorick, Arizona State Elections Director, wrote many letters and emails to the members of the board and also threatened them with criminal charges if they refused to verify the results in time. The letters compromise threats of legal actions against the members for “nonfeasance,” as well, according to the emails.
Matt Smith, the Mohave County Attorney, said to the DCNF that “The Secretary of State did contact our County and cited A.R.S. Section 16-1010 as a statute that could be used to prosecute [the board] if they did not certify the election.” The statute is an Arizona crime statute related to election officials who “fail to perform their duties” under the law, as a Class 6 crime upon conviction can lead to up to two years behind bars.
Travis Linginfelter, the board’s chair-elect Supervisor, said, “The threat of legal action, including personally, came from the Arizona State Elections Director [Kori Lorick].”
Earlier reporting noted that the members of the board were already warned of the charge by their counsel. Now the board’s members have now been told that the threats came from Lorick, who reports to Hobbs also. “Our office will take all legal action necessary to ensure that Arizona’s voters have their votes counted, including referring the individual supervisors who vote not to certify for criminal enforcement under A.R.S. 16-1010,” Lorick wrote in an email to the board got by the DCND.
Katie Hobbs’ office warned County Board Governor-elect Katie Hobbs; neither resigned as Secretary of State nor recused herself from election oversight and certification. Katie Hobbs was elected as governor of the state on 8th November 2022 after defeating Kari Lake, a Republican candidate who had been requesting to contest the election outcome.
The Republicans also lost the U.S. Senate of Secretary defeating Republican investor Blake Masters to win a full-six-year term.
Also read: Joe Biden moved to Boston to uplift Georgia’s Warnock.
