Lake Blasts ‘Clowns’ In Charge Of Maricopa County Elections
Although Democrats and mainstream media personalities dismissed GOP warnings about potential voting irregularities ahead of Tuesday’s election, a widespread situation in Arizona seemed to provide new credence to those concerns.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who remained narrowly behind Democratic challenger Katie Hobbs as of this writing, spoke out forcefully against the issues that voters and poll workers in Maricopa County reported throughout the day.
The county, which includes Phoenix, is by far the state’s most populous, and one election worker reported that Election Day started out with some serious mishaps.
“We have two tabulators,” the individual claimed. “One of the tabulators is not working. The other tabulator is about 75% successful.”
The apparent result is that roughly one-fourth of all ballots were being misread by machines. While voters who experienced such problems were told to leave their ballots in another location, critics far and wide complained that the response was insufficient and did little to restore trust in the integrity of the election.
Furthermore, Lake cited reports that predominantly Republican districts were experiencing longer lines and more significant delays than Democratic-leaning areas.
“Another election run by a bunch of clowns — and we’re not going to take it anymore,” she said in an interview. “We will restore faith to our elections.”
It is worth noting that Hobbs is Arizona’s secretary of state, which placed her at the helm of the state’s election process even as she campaigned against Lake.
With such a narrow margin between the two candidates, it is clear that any inconsistencies could sway the result in one direction.
Former President Donald Trump was among the many prominent Republicans who joined Lake in voicing outrage over the Arizona election.
In a social media post, he wrote: “Reports are coming in from Arizona that the Voting Machines are not properly working in predominantly Republican/Conservative areas. Here we go again? The people will not stand for it!!”
One GOP poll watcher reported that a polling place in Wickenburg had been besieged with problems including malfunctioning equipment and rejected ballots.
“This is the total disenfranchisement of rural voters,” Barbara Russell explained.