Arizona precincts with voting problems were not overwhelmingly Republican - The Washington Post

The claims travel arsenic Lake continues to narrowly way her rival, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, and arsenic the fig of ballots remaining to beryllium counted dwindles.

Starting aboriginal connected Tuesday, printers astatine 70 of the county’s 223 polling sites produced ballots with ink that was excessively airy to beryllium work by vote-counting machines, which caused ballots to beryllium rejected. That forced voters to hold successful line, question to different determination oregon deposit their ballots successful unafraid boxes that were transferred to downtown Phoenix and counted there. County officials accidental nary 1 was denied the close to vote.

The Post identified the precincts of affected voting locations utilizing information provided by Maricopa County predetermination officials and past examined the elector registration breakdown wrong each precinct utilizing information from L2, an predetermination information provider.

The investigation recovered that the proportionality of registered Republicans successful affected precincts, astir 37 percent, is virtually the aforesaid arsenic the stock of registered Republicans crossed the county, which stands astatine 35 percent.

Throughout the week, salient Republicans suggested without grounds that the occupation with printers lone affected Republican areas.

Lake, addressing reporters aft voting with her household astatine a tract downtown, said, “There’s a crushed we decided to alteration locations — we were going to spell to a beauteous Republican area.” Instead, she said, “We came close down to the bosom of wide Phoenix to ballot due to the fact that we wanted to marque definite that we had bully machines.”

“And conjecture what?” she added. “They’ve had zero problems with their machines today. Not 1 instrumentality spit retired a ballot present today. Not one, successful a precise wide area. So we were close to travel and ballot successful a precise wide area.”

In fact, determination were problems astatine locations successful precincts that skew heavy Democratic, according to The Post’s analysis.

They included 2 simple schools successful eastbound Phoenix and a wellness halfway successful southbound Phoenix — all locations wherever the stock of Democrats outnumbers Republicans by astir 40 percent points. At the Mountain Park Health Center successful southbound Phoenix, which was among the precincts that experienced issues with printers, determination were astir 3 times arsenic galore votes for Lake’s Democratic opponent, Hobbs, arsenic determination were for the Republican candidate, according to results released by the county.

A spokesperson for the Lake run did not respond to a petition for comment.

Lake’s claims were amplified passim the play by Trump, who wrote connected Truth Social, the societal media tract acceptable up by the erstwhile president and his allies, that “Even Kari Lake was taken to a Liberal Democrat territory successful bid to vote.”

The erstwhile president utilized that assertion to propulsion an unfounded assertion that Maricopa County officials “stole” the predetermination from Blake Masters, the GOP nominee for Senate. Masters connected Friday was projected to lose his contention to the incumbent Democrat, Mark Kelly.

“So successful Maricopa County they’re astatine it again. … but lone successful Republican districts,” wrote Trump, who made the region a people of his mendacious claims of predetermination fraud successful 2020.

He concluded, “Do Election implicit again!”

Masters hinted astatine a akin request successful an quality Friday connected Fox News big Tucker Carlson’s show, earlier his contention was called by the Associated Press. “I deliberation the astir honorable happening astatine this constituent would beryllium for Maricopa County to hitch the slate clean, conscionable instrumentality each the ballots and bash a caller count,” helium said.

Masters claimed that the region had “mixed up” ballots connected 2 occasions but did not connection a ground for that assertion. A run spokesperson did not respond to a petition for the grounds underlying his claims.

A spokeswoman for the county’s elections section said that canvass workers astatine 2 locations had combined 2 batches of ballots but that “This has happened successful the past, and we person redundancies successful spot that assistance america guarantee each ineligible ballot is lone counted once.” Those redundancies, which see checking full ballots against check-ins astatine voting locations, are carried retired “with governmental enactment observers present,” added the spokeswoman, Megan Gilbertson.

In a statement posted Saturday connected Twitter, Masters did not propulsion fraud claims but said helium would not concede until each votes had been counted.

Maricopa County officials person stressed successful caller days that the glitches did not origin immoderate ballots to beryllium misread oregon artifact anyone from voting. They accidental they are moving arsenic agelong arsenic 18 hours a time to process a grounds fig of ballots dropped disconnected connected Election Day — and they person said for weeks that tabulation could instrumentality arsenic galore arsenic 12 days.

“I’m going to basal up for my state,” Bill Gates, the Republican president of the region committee of supervisors, told reporters connected Friday afternoon. “We’re doing things the close way.”

Leaders of the Arizona Republican Party support that their voters were disproportionately affected by the glitches due to the fact that of their inclination to ballot connected Election Day. “It was nary concealed that Republicans intended to ballot connected Election Day,” the authorities enactment said successful a connection issued connected Sunday.

But The Post’s investigation recovered that the proportionality of Republican Election Day voters successful precincts with printer problems was virtually the aforesaid arsenic the stock successful precincts countywide, bolstering the county’s statement that radical successful affected areas who wanted to ballot connected Tuesday were not prevented from doing so.

Attorneys for the enactment asked a justice connected Tuesday nighttime to necessitate region officials to widen voting times by 3 hours, citing the mechanical problems. But astir 5 minutes earlier the polls were acceptable to close, the justice denied the request, uncovering that Republicans were incapable to amusement that immoderate elector had been denied the quality to formed a ballot.

In Maricopa, voters tin formed their ballots astatine immoderate polling center, nary substance wherever they live. It’s antithetic from immoderate systems that necessitate radical to formed their votes astatine designated locations adjacent oregon in their neighborhoods.

Voters who unrecorded successful the suburbs and thrust into downtown Phoenix for work, for example, tin formed their ballots either adjacent their home, successful the city’s halfway oregon astatine schools, churches oregon immoderate of the 223 polling locations acceptable up passim the immense county.

Traditionally, radical thin to ballot successful areas adjacent to their homes oregon successful locations that are portion of their regular routines, said governmental idiosyncratic Michael McDonald of the University of Florida.

“The ballot centers are conveniently located, they’re portion of your day, they whitethorn beryllium connected your way for each of your errands,” helium said.

Bronner reported from Washington. Jon Swaine and Reis Thebault contributed to this report.