Petition collectors for the Recall Tom Crosby campaign were contacted Friday morning by Cochise County registrar and interim election administrator David Stevens to illegally collect signatures on federal land near the Hereford Post Office. claimed to be.

Volunteers Mike and Candy McCroy were standing on the lot adjacent to the parking lot of the Hereford Post Office collecting signatures to recall District 1 Supervisor Tom Crosby.

According to Mike McCroy, Stevens pulled into a parking lot just after 9am on Friday and approached them.

“This gentleman came out, introduced himself as Cochise County Recorder David Stevens, and immediately informed me that I was breaking the law and had to leave,” said Mike McCroy. Told.

McCloy said he had permission to collect signatures on the property, to which Stevens responded, “Well, I could be wrong, but this is federal property and the Post Office’s. It’s property and it’s illegal to do anything political.So you have to leave and I said ‘well that’s not how I understand it’ Then he said, “Well, I’ll call the sheriff.” And he went ahead and did. “

Four deputies from the Cochise County Sheriff’s Department arrived, but no arrests were made. A spokesperson said two agents were dispatched to the scene and two others from the area attended.

Stevens said he approached two volunteers because he believed the petitioners were on federal land and therefore violated federal law.

“I didn’t know who they were, so I had to wait until I saw them again there,” Stephens said Friday night. I saw them walking by, so I stopped and explained the situation to them, this is federal property and it is against federal law to campaign.”

The land where the two were parked is not owned by the Post Office, but by an individual who lives in Vermont. record at the Cochise County Assessor’s Office.

Stevens said he learned after speaking with the couple that the property was not owned by the federal government.

“They were outside of Commonwealth land, so they weren’t in violation of Title 39,” Stevens said.

He says he reached out to landowner Morgan Wallabet to ask if the petitioners would agree to be on the land. Stevens said the owner told him, “He wasn’t happy to do political work on the land.”

Candy McCloy said back in January that she had received permission to petition on land to the right of the Post Office parking lot between the Post Office and the intersection of Highway 92 and Hereford Road.

McCloy said he spoke with a post office employee and was told to leave the post office premises. The Post Office does not own the property, it rents it out and includes a building, a parking lot and a rear parking lot where the mail trucks are parked.

“‘Our property is at the end of the parking lot.

“Beyond that, it’s not a post office. And if you stay in the dirt across the parking lot, you can do whatever you want. Just stay in the dirt.” That’s what we did,’ he said. explained

Mike McCroy says he only heard from the post office 10 days ago.

“A woman who works here came to the parking lot and informed me that the Stevens County Registrar called and complained about someone collecting petitions on the Post Office property,” Mike said. McCloy said.

Candy McCroy said the reason she’s trying to recall Supervisor Crosby is because he didn’t vote to prove the 2022 election results last November.

“Because he couldn’t prove people voted when he voted in November,” Candy McCroy said.

In December, a Pima County judge ordered the oversight board to certify the election results, following a lawsuit filed by then-Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, but supervisor Crosby said the results would not be certifiable. I didn’t attend the emergency meeting.

In February, the Board of Supervisors approved an agreement for Stevens to serve as the county’s interim election administrator.

The Arizona Attorney General filed a lawsuit against the Commission and Stevens seeking an agreement on March 7. The case is now being heard in Pima County and presided over by Santa Cruz County Judge Thomas Fink.