As if the insurrection of Jan. 6 weren’t horrifying enough, the fact that former President Donald Trump cemented the GOP’s use of bogus election fraud claims to excuse an electoral loss would be. Following in Trump’s dangerous and dirty footsteps is Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake of Arizona.
Giving a speech to an audience in north Phoenix just days before Tuesday’s primary, Lake roared, “We will not stand for another stolen election. … We’re already detecting some fraud. I know none of you are shocked. … We’re already detecting fraud, and believe me, we’ve got cyber folks working with us, we’ve got lots of attorneys. And I’m hoping that we have the sheriffs that will do something about it. We’ll keep you posted,” Lake said according to The Washington Post.
The Arizona Family reports that Lake, who has been endorsed by Trump, has made numerous claims about election fraud without evidence and has been crystal clear about her beliefs that Trump won the 2020 presidential election. The Post reports that Lake has promised to implement election-related policies if she wins.
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According to ABC-15 in Arizona, after numerous complaints, Arizona U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino announced he will reopen an investigation on voter fraud in the state. But he has said plainly that “the [voting] system is working.”
"It's a system that is highly professionalized to the county recorder and the Secretary of State's Office,” Restaino said, adding that his office is also working with the FBI and the Arizona Counter Terrorism Information Center to follow up on voting issues. So far, none have been uncovered.
Nonetheless, Lake has laid out a plan that includes getting rid of voting machines and replacing them with a hand count, the Post reports. She has additionally proposed to eliminate voting by mail for “one-day voting,” where all voters must vote in their precincts on a set day. And she’s suggested auditing of elections, something that is already required by federal law.
Lisa Marra, the president of Election Officials of Arizona and a lifelong Republican, tells the Post that the state doesn’t have sufficient staffing for Lake’s idea. Helen Purcell, also a Republican and the ex-Maricopa County recorder who oversaw elections for 28 years, says the idea would essentially disenfranchise residents.
“You’ll have people that don’t get to show everybody what they feel about their government. … If not everybody is able to vote, how does that government represent you? Isn’t that what our whole system is built on, is representation?”
Maricopa’s current county recorder, Stephen Richer, says elections have been smooth. "The reality is it's all safe," he tells ABC-15.
Ultimately, election officials in the state have said that if Lake and her campaign team know of any actual evidence of voter fraud, then they should report it to law enforcement. Otherwise, they need to stop planting seeds of doubt about the system.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has endorsed Lake’s rival, Karrin Taylor Robson.
Politico reports that while on CNN’s State of the Union, Ducey accused Lake of “misleading voters with no evidence,” adding, “She’s been tagged by her opponents with a nickname, Fake Lake, which seems to be sticking and actually doing some damage.”
