As Arizona counts votes, Republicans seize on Election Day glitches - The Washington Post

Hobbs, meanwhile, wrote connected Twitter: “This predetermination volition beryllium determined by the voters, not by the measurement astatine which an unhinged erstwhile tv newsman tin outcry conspiracy theories.”

On Tuesday, astir a 3rd of polling locations passim Maricopa County — location to Phoenix and much than 60 percent of the state’s voters — had problems with the printers that nutrient ballots connected request for idiosyncratic voters. Starting aboriginal Tuesday morning, printers astatine 70 of the county’s 223 polling sites produced ballots with ink that was excessively airy to beryllium decently work by vote-counting machines, causing the ballots to beryllium rejected, according to region officials. These officials had antecedently said that a smaller fig of sites had problems.

The officials said they had yet to find the origin of the printer problems; they said the printers passed required logic and accuracy tests up of Tuesday and had been utilized during the August superior predetermination and the 2020 elections with the aforesaid settings, with nary problems.

Voters had the options of waiting for the problems to beryllium fixed, going to antithetic polling locations, oregon dropping their ballots into unafraid boxes that were transferred to downtown Phoenix and counted there. Voters placed astir 17,000 ballots successful the unafraid boxes, a higher fig than successful erstwhile elections, region officials said. They said each votes volition beryllium counted, that each voters who wanted to formed a ballot were allowed to bash truthful and that the printer problems volition not impact the counting of votes.

Maricopa’s problems remained a enigma Thursday to officials successful Washington, who person been disappointed since Election Day by the deficiency of a wide mentation communicated to some voters and the agencies charged with predetermination oversight, said 2 radical tracking the developments. They spoke connected the information of anonymity due to the fact that they were not authorized to talk to the press.

In a authorities cardinal to wide conspiracy theories aft President Donald Trump’s nonaccomplishment successful 2020, some Republicans leveraged the problems successful Maricopa County to telephone for elimination of aboriginal voting and machines that number votes. Though aboriginal voting has agelong been fashionable successful Arizona, ballots returned successful the days starring up to Election Day and connected Election Day, ever instrumentality clip to process, and ballots are processed successful the bid they are received. To station results much quickly, region leaders for weeks urged voters to instrumentality their ballots — which had much races than ever earlier — arsenic rapidly arsenic possible.

Election workers were moving done astir 400,000 ballots successful Maricopa County arsenic of Thursday night. Officials present said they ever expected the number to instrumentality arsenic galore arsenic 12 days, though they had expected to study astatine slightest 95 percent of results by Friday. On Thursday, region officials said that it would instrumentality longer to conscionable that extremity and that they are moving done the Veterans Day national vacation and the weekend.

Voters dropped disconnected astir 290,000 ballots connected Election Day, the highest fig ever released. The precocious measurement of precocious drop-offs suggests galore voters whitethorn person acted connected instructions from Republican leaders and candidates who urged radical to either ballot successful idiosyncratic oregon hand-deliver aboriginal ballots astatine polling locations.

Some Republicans claimed, without evidence, that the drip-drip merchandise of results — which happens during each predetermination present — suggested region officials wanted to hold what they asserted would beryllium a triumph by Lake, and possibly different Republican candidates.

Officials successful Pima County, location to Tucson, swatted distant specified allegations. Gabriella Cázares-Kelly, the region recorder, said it was taking clip to process the precocious measurement of aboriginal ballots that didn’t get until Election Day. “We are pursuing the law,” she said.

Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates (R) noted that it routinely takes days to implicit tabulation successful the county, a signifier that has precocious drawn nationalist attraction due to the fact that of Arizona’s swing-state presumption and the choky margins successful statewide contests. Gates, who doubly ran the authorities GOP’s Election Day integrity efforts, said Lake mightiness not beryllium acquainted with the county’s tabulation process.

“Quite frankly, it is violative for Kari Lake to accidental these radical down maine are dilatory rolling erstwhile they’re moving 14 to 18 hours,” helium said, gripping a lectern astatine times during a 45-minute quality conference. “I truly anticipation this is the extremity of that now. We tin beryllium diligent and respect the results.”

Gates said it is important that Arizonans don’t deliberation “that we’re picking and choosing which ballots to tabulate. We usage an accounting concept: archetypal in, archetypal out.”

Researchers examining attempts connected societal media to delegitimize predetermination results said fraud narratives had gotten little traction successful the contiguous aftermath of the vote. But others warned that a prolonged number successful Arizona could make an accidental for misleading narratives to instrumentality clasp oregon for rogue actors to effort to disrupt the process.

Most immediately, Republican candidates and their allies successful Arizona seized connected the mechanical issues to premier the nationalist for sweeping legislative changes. Lake ran connected a level during the superior predetermination to number millions of votes not by machines, but by hand, a method that predetermination experts accidental is little accurate. She favors “one-day voting,” wherever ballots are formed successful assigned precincts. Arizona allows radical to ballot by mail, and successful Maricopa County, they tin ballot astatine immoderate voting location.

Lake was notably vaguer successful the last days of campaigning astir her plans for electoral reform.

At a halt southeast of Phoenix connected the Sunday earlier Election Day, she told reporters simply that she planned to “work with our fantastic lawmakers, and we’ll travel up with large laws that unafraid the vote.”

Her astir hard-line allies besides seemed to beryllium equivocating. Wendy Rogers, a far-right authorities legislator who has pushed for “decertification” of the 2020 election, a process that experts accidental is not imaginable nether authorities oregon national law, refused to perpetrate to a strategy that would lone let voting connected a azygous time — an thought that has been pushed by far-right activists here. When asked astatine the aforesaid lawsuit whether she favored specified a proposal, she replied, “Essentially.”

But the problems successful Maricopa County gave Lake and her supporters a caller people for their ire. In an quality connected a vigor amusement hosted by Charlie Kirk, the laminitis and president of Phoenix-based Turning Point USA, Lake called for a “task unit to analyse what went wrong, however these anomalies happened.”

“That’s either maladministration, incompetency, we don’t cognize what it is,” she added.

Kirk went further, arguing without evidence, “I judge it was a postulation jam by design.”

But that content wasn’t echoed by Lake, who had a delicate creation to propulsion disconnected — railing against the medication of an predetermination that, she told her supporters, volition spot her successful the governor’s office.

“It’s a messed-up predetermination system,” she said. “We knew we had to trudge done it to get to victory.”

That connection near chap Republican candidates successful a hard position. Other campaigns took their cues from Lake astir however to respond to the uncertainty successful the days aft the election, according to a Republican acquainted with the discussions. Blake Masters, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate successful Arizona, suggested connected Tuesday that thing nefarious was occurring, but helium fell mostly soundless connected societal media arsenic Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) gained an borderline implicit him successful incomplete results.

A fundraising entreaty from Masters’s run connected Thursday did not allege impropriety but argued that “some of the issues we’ve spot hap during this predetermination are troubling.” It added, “We’re expecting a contested roadworthy guardant and ineligible battles to come.”

Abraham Hamadeh, the Republican nominee for lawyer general, attacked Maricopa County but did not reason that the vote, which was showing him neck-and-neck with Democrat Kris Mayes, was fraudulent.

The objection was Mark Finchem, the GOP campaigner for caput of state, who was trailing Democrat Adrian Fontes successful preliminary results. Finchem speculated connected Twitter that Fontes and different Democrats could beryllium “in the backmost country with ballots.” Fontes fired backmost that helium was “having java with an aged friend,” adding, “Stop with this conspiracy garbage.”

More broadly, the state’s apical Democratic candidates urged patience, with Hobbs penning connected Twitter, “Accurate predetermination results instrumentality time.” Kelly thanked his supporters connected societal media, writing, “I’m assured we’re going to win. But we don’t person the last results yet.”

Lake was holed up Wednesday successful meetings with advisers, extracurricular allies and radical who whitethorn yet service successful her administration. Among them was Floyd Brown, a longtime blimpish operative and laminitis of the quality and sentiment website the Western Journal, according to 2 radical acquainted with the discussions, 1 of whom said it was an advisory meeting. They spoke connected the information of anonymity to speech astir backstage discussions. Brown, who did not respond to a petition for comment, suggested connected societal media that the mechanical issues successful Maricopa County were an “effort to stop” Lake.

Lake besides met with Eileen Klein, the erstwhile main of unit for erstwhile Arizona politician Jan Brewer, a Republican; Danny Seiden, who heads the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and antecedently worked for Gov. Doug Ducey (R); and Tyler Bowyer, main operating serviceman of the governmental limb of Kirk’s Turning Point USA. None commented connected the meetings.

Maricopa officials said that portion they did not yet cognize the underlying origin of the faint printing connected immoderate ballots, the occupation appeared to beryllium fixed by precocious Tuesday day erstwhile technicians changed a mounting to let for a heavier benignant of paper.

Printers similar those utilized by the region incorporate “fusers” — heated rollers that melt toner and marque it instrumentality to paper. Different weights of insubstantial necessitate antithetic temperatures for the toner to adhere properly.

The region has astir 760 printers for printing ballots connected demand, according to Megan Gilbertson, communications manager for the county’s elections department. About 600 of those were made by Oki, a corp headquartered successful Japan, which discontinued each income of its printers successful the United States successful March 2021. Oki has said it continues to proviso parts, bundle updates and different services. Gilbertson said those printers are the ones that had problems.

“It is modular signifier to proceed to usage instrumentality if an enactment tin proceed to support it,” Gilbertson said. Dennie K. Kawahara, the president and main enforcement of Oki Data Americas, said successful an email that the steadfast had received nary inquiries oregon lawsuit work requests relating to the occupation successful Maricopa County. “The printers were tested anterior to the predetermination and were moving fine,” Kawahara wrote.

Maricopa’s 2022 elections program said each of the county’s 223 polling places would person 2 oregon 3 printers and that this would supply capable capableness successful lawsuit immoderate malfunctioned.

Gilbertson said each ballot printer was linked lone to a laptop and that they were not connected to 1 different oregon to the internet. The printers’ settings could lone beryllium changed manually and changes necessitate a password, she said.

Swaine and Davis reported from Washington. Cat Zakrzewski successful Washington contributed to this report.