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Cochise County elections leader who promoted voter fraud conspiracies resigns

Members of the public attend Cochise County Board of Supervisors meeting to provide feedback on the proposed transfer of election functions and duties to the county recorder, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023, in Bisbee, Ariz.
Alberto Mariani
/
AP
Members of the public attend Cochise County Board of Supervisors meeting to provide feedback on the proposed transfer of election functions and duties to the county recorder, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2023, in Bisbee, Ariz.

The Cochise County elections director who pushed false claims that voter fraud was behind President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss is resigning five months after being hired.

Bob Bartelsmeyer submitted his resignation last week to return to his previous job as elections director in La Paz County.

He was hired in April by the two Republicans on the three-member Cochise County Board of Supervisors after the previous director resigned – calling the county’s conduct “physically and emotionally threatening.”

Bartelsmeyer’s appointment was approved despite public concern about his qualifications and social media posts about the 2020 election in which he supported Trump's allegations of fraud and promoted the lie that Dominion voting machines manipulated the outcome.