BISBEE, Ariz. (KGUN) — After the Arizona Secretary of State's Office filed a lawsuit against the Cochise County Board of Supervisors on Monday, the board confirmed that a hearing was scheduled for 1p.m. on Thursday.
The Secretary of State's Office filed the lawsuit against the board because they did not certify the election by the deadline. On Monday morning, the board voted to delay the certification.
Today, the board met to discuss how to pay for outside legal representation.
"We can't go into court without representation," Ann English, the chairwoman of the board, said. "At some point in time hopefully today the board will meet to discuss that."
She said the lawyers were already given a payment.
"Today we found out that someone paid the bill so we didn't have to address it, there was no bill to address," she said.
Voters who came to the meeting today expressed their concerns. Refaela Valenzuela, one of the voters who came to the meeting, said she's never seen the leaders of her county do this before.
"I've been voting here in Cochise County for the last five decades, this is a first," she said. "And let me tell you folks, welcome to the wild wild west."
She believes the board should certify the election.
"We should just do the 2 percent hand count, the things that's always been done," she said.
Other voters who called into the meeting disagreed.
"I would really encourage you to not certify the election in Cochise county because it will give one of the House of Representative seats to a democrat," one of the callers said.
The Secretary of State is required to compete the statewide canvass by December 8.
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