Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake released a video Thursday sharing that she is not conceding in the race for governor and will continue to fight for the people of Arizona.
“I can promise you one thing, this fight to save our Republic has just begun. I love you, Arizona, and I love you, America,” Lake said. “My resolve to fight for you [Arizona] is higher than ever.”
Arizona, we are still in the fight. pic.twitter.com/ytaGvqG5J0
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) November 17, 2022
The Arizona Sun Times reached out to the Kari Lake Campaign for additional comments but did not hear back before publishing.
As of writing, Lake’s Democrat opponent, Katie Hobbs, leads her by nearly 17,000 votes, and several prominent media outlets have predicted that the race will end in Hobbs’s favor.
In her video, Lake said that her previous claims about Arizona’s broken election system had been vindicated. Firstly, Lake and other Republican Party members called for Hobbs to recuse herself from this election, but she never did. Hobbs holds the current title of Arizona Secretary of State (SOS), the position in charge of certifying the election, so there was a concern of a conflict of interests at play.
Moreover, Lake pointed to malfunctions seen across Maricopa County on Election Day. Months before the election, Lake and Republican SOS candidate Mark Finchem filed a lawsuit to block the use of electronic voting machines in the General Election. Then, on Election Day, it appeared that electronic tabulation machines were causing problems by rejecting some voter’s ballots at upwards of 70 voting locations in the county.
Megan Gilbertson, the communications director for the Maricopa County Elections Department, revealed that one of the causes of this issue was on-site printer settings being off, which caused the tabulation machines to have trouble scanning the ballots. However, Gilbertson said this was likely not the root issue, and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors will work to uncover the cause of the problem following final ballot tabulations.
Yet, voters did have a backup option if they could not wait for the tabulator to work, that being to put their ballot in “box 3,” a container within the tabulation machine where their vote would stay until a bipartisan team would pick it up for tabulation.
Lake said these issues still caused significant wait times and spoke with a voter who said he drove to multiple voting centers in the county before finding one with a reasonable line. According to Lake, thousands of Maricopa County voters were disenfranchised because of these issues. Lake said she is preparing to take legal action.
“Now, I am busy here collecting evidence and data. 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.
The Sun Times reached out to the Hobbs campaign for a comment on this potential legal action but did not hear back.
For those who experienced an issue voting on Election Day, complaints can be submitted to Lake here.
Are you one of the thousands of Maricopa County voters that experienced serious issues on Election Day?
Our attorneys want to hear from you! Visit: https://t.co/hg3wAUkW5G
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) November 17, 2022
As reported by The Sun Times, Lake is not the only one looking to take legal action against Arizona. Catherine Engelbrecht and Greg Phillips of True the Vote shared that they are also collecting evidence and accounts from voters to form a lawsuit and prevent the certification of this election. They said this on Steve Bannon’s WarRoom, who also agreed the election should not be certified unless there is irrefutable evidence no foul play occurred.
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Neil Jones is a reporter for The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Neil on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Kari Lake” by Kari Lake.Â
