Republican candidates and conservative media organizations seized on reviews of voting points in Arizona on Tuesday to re-up their case that the state’s elections are damaged and in want of reform, at the same time as state and county officers mentioned the complaints had been exaggerated.
“We’ve bought irregularities all around the state,” Mark Finchem, who gained the Republican nomination for secretary of state in Arizona, mentioned earlier than his victory was introduced.
Gateway Pundit, a conservative web site that breathlessly lined the election rumors on Tuesday, wrote that Arizona’s largest counties had been apparently “rife with severe irregularities which were occurring all day lengthy, sparking much more concern for election integrity.”
There is no such thing as a proof of any widespread fraud in Tuesday’s election. However the issues raised had been bolstered by plenty of issues in Pinal County, the state’s third-most populated county, situated between Phoenix and Tucson. Greater than 63,000 ballots had been mailed with the incorrect native races on them, requiring new ballots to be issued. On election night time, at the least 20 of 95 precincts in Pinal County were running low on ballots or ran out entirely.
Sophia Solis, the deputy communications director of Arizona’s secretary of state, mentioned voters might nonetheless solid a poll at these precincts utilizing voting machines which might be usually utilized by disabled voters.
“We didn’t hear of any widespread issues,” Ms. Solis mentioned, including that “one of many fundamental points that we did see yesterday was the unfold of mis- and disinformation.”
Kent Volkmer, the legal professional for Pinal County, mentioned there have been extra in-person voters within the county than had been seen earlier than, together with way more unbiased voters. He added that many citizens surrendered their mail-in poll so they may vote in individual, probably motivated by the ballot-printing points.
“We don’t suppose that there’s practically as many individuals who had been negatively impacted as what’s being associated to the neighborhood,” Mr. Volkmer mentioned.
One frequent speaking level on Tuesday resurrected a false concept from 2020, referred to as Sharpiegate, which claimed that markers supplied by ballot employees had been bleeding by and invalidating ballots. Election officers have mentioned that machines can learn ballots marked with pens, markers and different devices, and any points might be reviewed manually.
“That is Sharpiegate 2.0,” Ben Berquam, a conservative commentator, mentioned on a livestream. Mr. Finchem shared the conspiracy concept on his Twitter account. The marketing campaign for Ron Watkins, a congressional candidate for Arizona’s Second District who got here in final place in his race on Tuesday, additionally prompt that Mr. Watkins’s votes had been being artificially slashed.
Many election fraud theories targeted on the governor’s major race between Kari Lake, the Trump-endorsed former information anchor, and Karrin Taylor Robson, who was endorsed by former Vice President Mike Pence. Ms. Lake was badly trailing her competitor for a lot of the night time, whipping up election fraud theories amongst her supporters. She ultimately took the lead.
Ms. Lake’s allies prompt throughout a livestream that the outcomes had been suspicious as a result of many different Trump-aligned candidates had been successful their races. In Arizona, mail-in ballots obtained earlier than Election Day are counted first, and polling prompt these would barely favor Ms. Taylor Robson. In-person votes had been counted on election night time, and Ms. Lake’s supporters most well-liked voting in individual.
As counting continued late into the night time, Ms. Lake claimed victory whereas she was nonetheless trailing Ms. Taylor Robson.
“When the authorized votes are counted, we’re going to win,” Ms. Lake mentioned at her election night time celebration. The Related Press has not but referred to as the race.
