Curly Bill had been arrested and jailed in Tucson on October 28 for killing Sheriff Fred White and he was still there on election day. The home of John Magill was used as the polling place. A mysterious "Henry Johnson" was responsible for certifying the ballots. This turned out to be James Johnson, the same James K. Johnson who had been shooting up Allen Street the night Marshal White was killed. Moreover, he was the same Johnson that testified at Curly Bill's preliminary hearing after he shot Fred White. James Johnson later testified for Bud Paul in the election hearing and said that the ballots had been left in the care of Phin Clanton. None of the witnesses during the election hearing reported on ballots being cast for dogs. They gathered the dozen or so legal voters in town and coerced them to vote for Shibell. Then they gathered non-voters like the children and Chinese and had them cast ballots. Not satisfied, the named all the dogs, burros and poultry and cast ballots in their names for Shibell. The San Simon precinct turned out an amazing 104 votes, 103 of them for Shibell. Democrat Shibell was unexpectedly reelected by a margin of 58 votes. He immediately appointed Johnny Behan as the new deputy sheriff for the Tombstone region of Pima County. Wyatt, also a Republican, supported Paul and resigned as deputy sheriff on November 9. Shibell immediately appointed Behan as the new South Pima deputy sheriff. Paul and Earp checked the ballots and were suspicious to see that 108 out of 109 voters in Precinct 27 had voted for Shibell. On November 19, Paul filed suit and accused Shibell of ballot-stuffing. The trial was transferred to Tucson's district court and began on January 17. On January 20, 1881, the "Arizona Star" reported, “There has been some big cheating somewhere, and by some persons. It was clear that there had been reckless counting at Tombstone, fraud at San Simon and a careless election board at Tres Alamos.” A recount was held and this time Paul had 402 votes and Shibell had 354. Judge Judge C.G.W. French ruled in Paul's favor in late January, 1881, throwing the whole precinct out, but Shibell appealed, preventing Paul from taking office until April 1881. However, the eastern portion of Pima County had been split off to form Cochise County on February 1. This prevented Paul from appointing Earp as deputy sheriff for the Tombstone area of Pima County.