Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake does not plan to go quietly into the night, at least not until her legal options are explored.
As of this writing, less than 17,000 votes separate Lake and Democrat candidate Katie Hobbs, which is .06 percent of the votes cast with ballots still being counted.
An automatic recount is triggered at when the difference is .05 percent or less.
There will be a recount in the attorney general’s race where Republican Abe Hamadeh trails Democrat Kris Mayes by 143 votes.
Given all the chaos that happened with the vote tabulating machines in at least 70 locations in Maricopa County on Election Day, Lake should join in the recount even if her campaign has to pay.
In a video message posted Thursday, Lake said, “I’m still in this fight with you.”
“What happened to Arizonans on Election Day is unforgivable. Tens of thousands of Maricopa County voters were disenfranchised,” she added.
“Rest assured I have assembled the best and brightest legal team, and we are exploring every avenue to correct the many wrongs that have been done this past week,” Lake said. “I’m doing everything in my power to right these wrongs.”
Arizona, we are still in the fight. pic.twitter.com/ytaGvqG5J0
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) November 17, 2022
Do you think that the Arizona election should be looked into?
Yes: 100% (41 Votes)
No: 0% (0 Votes)
There is no doubt the candidates most impacted by polling locations experiencing inordinately long lines due, in part, to vote tabulating machine and ballot printing issues were GOP candidates Lake and Hamadeh.
Hamadeh tweeted on Saturday, “REMEMBER: 72%+ of the votes on Election Day in person were Republican. When you have 30% of the tabulating machines failing, causing people to leave the lines and give up. This is voter suppression targeting a political party.”
REMEMBER: 72%+ of the votes on Election Day in person were Republican.
When you have 30% of the tabulating machines failing, causing people to leave the lines and give up.
This is voter suppression targeting a political party.
— Abe Hamadeh (@AbrahamHamadeh) November 12, 2022
Despite all the problems, Lake was able to close Hobbs’ lead from double-digits (about 183,000 votes), based on her advantage in the early voting tallies, to less than a percent (about 12,000 votes) by the Wednesday following the election, thanks to Election Day votes.
In her August primary, Lake took the lead over establishment Republican pick Karrin Taylor Robson the day after the election because of Election Day totals. Robson, like Hobbs, had leapt out to a double-digit lead on election night due to early voting and mail-in ballots.
Unlike the primary race, Lake never had the lead against Hobbs and arguably that may have been due to vote tabulator machine problems across Maricopa County on Election Day.
Given the roughly 17,000 votes separating Lake and Hobbs, it would take a net of approximately 242 Lake voters per the 70 ill-function polling stations to make the difference.
For Hamadeh, it would be roughly two votes per location.
The Western Journal received over 20 exclusive videos featuring Arizona voters explaining how difficult it was for them to cast their ballots. One voter had to wait in line for seven hours.
Lake shared video of Steve’s Election Day experience.
When Steve and his wife arrived at their closing polling location, they were told the ballot printers were all broken, and they were asked to go to a different voting center.
Steve’s Testimony is just one of thousands we have received
“I have no doubt that these issues disenfranchised and turned away a lot of people”
Almost HALF of all voting centers experienced similar issues. This is unacceptable.
Help FUEL our fight: ⤵️https://t.co/XJKyq7uzXn pic.twitter.com/rLmAktaS9v
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) November 17, 2022
They found the next closest voting center and waited in a line of about 40 people.
“We noticed that two out of about every three people that tried to scan their ballots, it just wounded scan their ballots,” Steve said.
The tabulating machine would not accept his ballot. Poll workers then directed him to a handicapped location with a different-sized ballot and that one scanned.
By the time Steve and his wife left about an hour after arriving, the line had grown to 100 to 150 people long.
While The Washington Post reported that 70 of the county’s 233 polling locations had these problems based on what county officials told them, it may have been more.
The Western Journal obtained a copy of a report of an attorney with the Republican National Committee Election Integrity program.
Seven of the nine locations she visited had tabulator issues.
“After Chairman Bill Gates announced that the problems with the printers had been resolved at around 2:50 p.m., I visited some of the vote centers again to confirm that the problems with the tabulators and printers where in fact resolved,” she noted.
“Unfortunately, that was not true for all the vote centers I visited. Mr. Gates also mentioned that one of the options voters had in any vote center in which they encountered the tabulator and/or printer problem was to request to cancel their check-in and go to a different vote center,” the attorney added.
“So, in my afternoon rounds, I asked the inspectors if they were informing voters of the option to cancel their check-in and go to a different vote center. Only one inspector said they were informing voters of that option.”
Below was the scene at the Anthem polling location, which this particular RNC attorney did not visit.
It’s a ruby-red district of about 30,000 people. The ballot tabulators did not work in the morning. There was a two-hour wait to vote midday and still at 6 p.m.
Here is the problem w/ what happened in Maricopa County on Election Day. This is Anthem, north of Phoenix at about 1:15 pm. Ruby red district of about 30K people. Only one polling location. Ballot tabulators not working in the morning. 2 hr wait to vote midday and still at 6 pm. pic.twitter.com/CY35yQWwq5
— Randy DeSoto (@RandyDeSoto) November 14, 2022
Lake concluded her video by saying, “I can promise you one thing: This fight to save our republic has just begun.”
Amen.
There was clearly interference on the field of play on Election Day and the only real remedy is a redo of Maricopa County.
