Republican candidates and conservative media organizations gathered reports on voting problems in Arizona on Tuesday to make their case that the state’s election was broken, and needs reform, even as state and county officials say the complaints are exaggerated.
“We have irregularities across the state,” Mark Finchemwho won the Republican nomination for secretary of state in Arizona, said before his victory was announced.
Gateway Pundit, a conservative website that covers election rumours on Tuesday, wrote that Arizona’s largest counties appear “to be rife with serious irregularities that have been going on throughout the day, sparking a stir.” more concerns about the integrity of the election.”
There was no evidence of any widespread fraud in Tuesday’s election. But the concerns raised are reinforced by a number of problems in Pinal County, the state’s third-most populous county, located between Phoenix and Tucson. More than 63,000 votes were mailed with the wrong local races on them, asking for new ballots to be issued. On election night, at least 20 of the 95 precincts in Pinal County is running out of votes or running out.
Sophia Solis, deputy communications director for Arizona’s secretary of state, said voters can still vote in those precincts using voting machines commonly used by voters with disabilities.
“We haven’t heard of any widespread problems,” Solis said, adding that “one of the main problems we saw yesterday was the spread of misinformation and misinformation. “
Kent Volkmer, attorney for Pinal County, said there are more direct voters in the county than previously seen, including much more independent voters. He added that many voters sent their ballots by mail so they could vote in person, possibly fueled by ballot printing problems.
“We don’t think there are nearly as many people who are negatively impacted as it is in the community,” Mr. Volkmer said.
A popular talking point on Tuesday revived a false theory from 2020, known as Sharpiegate, which claimed that markers provided by probe staff had bled and invalidated the probe. votes. Election Officials said that The machine can read ballots marked with pens, markers and other instruments, and any issues can be manually reviewed.
“This is Sharpiegate 2.0,” Ben Berquam, a conservative commentator, said during a live stream. Mr Finchem shared the conspiracy theory on his Twitter account. The campaign for Ron Watkins, a congressional candidate for Arizona’s Second District who finished last in Tuesday’s race, also suggested that Mr. Watkins’ votes were being artificially undercut.
Many election fraud theories focus on the governor’s primaries between Kari Lake, a former Trump-confirmed news anchor, and Karrin Taylor Robson, who was endorsed by former Vice President Mike Pence. Ms. Lake spied on her competitor badly most of the night, pitching electoral fraud theories among her supporters. In the end she took the lead.
Ms. Lake’s allies hinted during a live stream that the results were questionable as many other candidates on Trump’s side were winning their races. In Arizona, mail-in ballots received before Election Day count first, and polls show those ballots will favor Taylor Robson slightly. In-person votes count on election night, and Ms. Lake’s supporters prefer to vote in person.
As the counting continued late into the night, Ms. Lake declared victory while keeping a close eye on Ms. Taylor Robson.
“When the legitimate votes are counted, we win,” Ms. Lake said at her election night party. The Associated Press has not yet called a race.
