Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake encouraged her supporters to go to Democratic strongholds in Maricopa County to vote after ballot tabulation machines in other parts of the county malfunctioned.
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer and Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates confirmed about 1 in 5 of the ballot tabulation machines were not working as of Tuesday morning.
Maricopa County is Arizona’s most populous, encompassing the Phoenix metropolitan area.
About 60 percent of the state’s voters reside there.
Lake tweeted, “Democrat areas are less crowded & are experiencing fewer problems. (Downtown Phx, South Phx, Tempe) Take friends & VOTE! VOTE NO MATTER WHAT!”
Tempe is where Arizona State University is located.
She encouraged people to check the Maricopa County Election Department website for polling locations.
🚨 ARIZONA 🚨
Check this website out to find voting locations with little to no lines. ⤵️https://t.co/LXeDMRCcVI
Democrat areas are less crowded & are experiencing fewer problems. (Downtown Phx, South Phx, Tempe) Take friends & VOTE!
VOTE NO MATTER WHAT!
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) November 8, 2022
Lake tweeted detailed instructions to her supporters, writing only as a last resort to submit their ballot in the slot below the ballot tabulator (“Door 3”) — to be counted at the Maricopa County Elections Department later in the day.
Arizona,
There’s nothing more important than your vote today.
Follow these directions.
Cast your vote.
Report any issues to https://t.co/ootIe8kKCy.
If you vote. We win. pic.twitter.com/tftBuWhKNE
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) November 8, 2022
Elliott Echols, political director for the Republican National Committee, tweeted, “Our attorneys and volunteers are on the ground working to solve this.”
Echols shared video from Anthem, Arizona on the north side of Phoenix, which is a Republican stronghold. It is also where The Western Journal happens to be located.
The tabulator machines were not working as of Tuesday morning, and long lines had formed.
We are aware of tabulator issues at several polling locations in Maricopa County, AZ.
Another display of incompetence from @katiehobbs. Our attorneys and volunteers are on the ground working to solve this.
Stay in line or go to https://t.co/dWzNK2fQLn & find another location! https://t.co/yPQlH6LkDB
— Elliott Echols (@elliott_echols) November 8, 2022
Republicans historically vote in much larger numbers on Election Day than Democrats.
In 2020, the Election-Day vote strongly favored President Donald Trump over Democrat Joe Biden.
In the August primary in Arizona, Election-Day voters put Lake over the top of the establishment Republican pick, Karrin Taylor Robson, who took a significant lead on election night as the early voting totals came in.
Last month, Lake hammered Democrat secretary of state and gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs for threatening legal action against Cochise County in southeast Arizona after its board of supervisors voted to do a full hand count audit to verify the Election Day machine count.
“Despite what Katie Hobbs threatens, the Cochise County Board of Supervisors has every right, as they have just voted to do, to expand the statutory hand count,” Lake said at the time.
“The statute in question states that a county shall count ‘at least’ two percent of the precincts,” she said. “That means a county may count as many additional precincts as it wants to.”
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) October 25, 2022
Arizona election law requires a hand-count audit: “At least two percent of the precincts in that county, or two precincts, whichever is greater, shall be selected at random from a pool consisting of every precinct in that county.”
Lake pointed to some other significant problems that have occurred during the current election cycle, arguing Hobbs’ failure to understand the plain language of the election law regarding hand count audits is the latest example.
The Associated Press reported that up to 6,000 voters were flagged to receive a “federal only” ballot, with no state or local candidates on them, and approximately 1,000 of those ballots had been mailed.
Additionally, during the primary election in August, Pinal County, the state’s third most populous, ran out of ballots in more than a dozen polling places, according to NPR.
Further, Pinal County mailed out approximately 63,000 early voting ballots that had either the wrong municipal elections listed for the voter getting the ballot or the municipal elections for those voters were completely missing.
Should these ‘problems’ be investigated?
Yes: 0% (0 Votes)
No: 0% (0 Votes)
Lake would like to see all counties follow Cochise County’s plan to hand count, though a state judge ruled against it Monday. That decision will likely be appealed.
“Cochise County should be applauded for standing up to Hobbs’ misguided bullying and standing its ground,” Lake said.
“I urge all counties to seriously consider adopting similar plans for an expanded hand count of the ballots by bipartisan teams observed by poll watchers from both political parties,” Lake added.
“We must do everything we can to restore the integrity of our elections and protect our democracy.”
