Republican candidates and conservative media organizations on Tuesday took advantage of reports of voting trouble in Arizona to affirm their case that the state elections have failed and need reform, even though state and county officials said the complaints were exaggerated.
“We have irregularities all over the state,” said Mark Finchem, who won the Republican nomination for secretary of state in Arizona, before announcing his victory.
Gateway Pundit, a conservative website that breathlessly covered the election rumors on Tuesday, wrote that Arizona’s largest counties were apparently “full of serious irregularities that have occurred throughout the day, raising even more concerns about election integrity.”
There is no evidence of widespread fraud in Tuesday’s election. But the concerns expressed were compounded by a number of problems in Pinal County, the state’s third-most populous county, located between Phoenix and Tucson. More than 63,000 ballots were sent with the wrong local races on them, forcing new ballots to be issued. On election night, at least 20 of the 95 districts in Pinal County was almost out of ballots or completely out.
Sophia Solis, the Arizona Secretary of State’s deputy communications director, said voters can still vote in those districts using voting machines typically used by disabled voters.
“We have not heard anything about widespread problems,” Ms Solis said, adding that “one of the main problems we saw yesterday was the spread of misinformation and misinformation.”
Pinal County attorney Kent Volkmer said there were more personal voters in the county than previously seen, including many more independent voters. He added that many voters turned in their ballot papers so they could vote in person, possibly motivated by the problems with the ballot printing.
“We don’t think there are nearly as many people who have had a negative impact as what’s related to the community,” said Mr. Volkmer.
A common topic of conversation on Tuesday brought to life a 2020 false theory known as Sharpiegate, which claimed that markings offered by pollsters bled through and invalidated ballots. Election officials have said machines can read ballots marked with pens, markers and other instruments, and assess any problems manually.
“This is Sharpiegate 2.0,” said Ben Berquam, a conservative commentator, during a livestream. 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 his race on Tuesday, also suggested Mr. Watkins were artificially lowered.
Many theories of electoral fraud centered on the governor’s primary race between Kari Lake, the former Trump-backed news anchor, and Karrin Taylor Robson, who was backed by former Vice President Mike Pence. Ms. Lake lagged badly behind her competitor for most of the night, prompting her supporters to whip up election fraud theories. She eventually took charge.
Ms. Lake’s allies suggested during a live stream that the results were suspicious as many other Trump-aligned candidates won their races. In Arizona, ballots received before Election Day are counted first, and polls suggested those would be somewhat in favor of Ms. Taylor Robson. The personal votes were counted on election night and Ms. Lake’s supporters preferred to vote in person.
As the counting continued late into the night, Mrs. Lake claimed victory while still chasing Mrs. Taylor Robson.
“When the legal votes are counted, we’re going to win,” Ms. Lake said at her election night party. The Associated Press has not yet announced the race.
