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Cochise residents ask supervisors for working session on election procedures after court-ordered redo
Summary
Multiple callers during the Cochise County Board of Supervisors’ public comment period urged the board to schedule working sessions to address alleged constitutional and procedural problems in a pending election redo; speakers also defended former county elections director Lisa Marra against public accusations.
Several Cochise County residents used the meeting’s public-comment period to press the Board of Supervisors to hold working sessions addressing alleged constitutional and procedural problems in a court-ordered election redo.
Daniel LaChance, identifying himself as a Sierra Vista resident, told the board he had sent a letter outlining five issues he believes the county must address and asked, “when can we schedule that working session and when can we get that done and deal with these really significant issues that must be dealt with.” He said three items in his letter were “actual violations of constitutional law.”
Radford Hyde, also from Sierra Vista, said he supported LaChance’s concerns and asked that the supervisors make LaChance’s letter public and that the board schedule a series of working sessions “beginning as soon as possible and prior to moving forward.” Hyde also urged adherence to signature requirements for referenda and to any applicable supermajority thresholds called for by statute.
Allison Morse spoke in defense of Lisa Marra, named in the meeting as the former Cochise County elections director and now Arizona State Elections Director. Morse called recent public accusations that Marra “went behind the board and lobbied members of the legislature” false and said Marra “bravely upheld well established election laws” found in the Arizona Revised Statutes and the Elections Procedure Manual. Morse asked that defamatory statements stop immediately and said she had documentation to support her remarks.
Board members did not take formal action during the call to the public. The chair referred to public records dates and a so-called Catlett letter dated Oct. 28, 2022, during a brief reply to Morse, noting those documents are available in the public record and offering to provide copies to speakers who requested them.
Speakers framed their remarks as requests for additional public review and working sessions rather than as motions or board directions. No board vote or directive to schedule a working session appears in the meeting transcript.
