Failed Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake insists she is not giving up the election just yet.
In a video posted on Twitter days after the race was called for Democrat Katie Hobbs, Lake said, “I wanted to reach out to you to let you know that I am still in this fight with you. For two years, I’ve been sounding the alarm about our broken election system here in Arizona.”
“And this past week has confirmed everything we’ve been saying. Well, we called for Katie Hobbs to recuse herself,” she continued. “Over a year ago, they ridiculed us. It turns out we were right. The fox was guarding the henhouse, and because of that, voters have been disenfranchised when we raise concerns.”
Lake noted she filed a lawsuit trying to get rid of electronic voting machines and claimed to be vindicated because of issues with printers in Maricopa County.
Ballots were printed too lightly for scanners to read in some locations. However, voters could still leave ballots in secure boxes to be counted or go to a different polling location.
Watch the video below:
Arizona, we are still in the fight. pic.twitter.com/ytaGvqG5J0
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) November 17, 2022
The conservative candidate noted the long wait times that resulted from the issues with the machines.
Lake went on, “What happened to Arizonans on Election Day is unforgivable. Tens of thousands of Maricopa County voters were disenfranchised. Now I’m 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. I’m doing everything in my power to right these wrongs. My resolve to fight for you is higher than ever,” she added.
As of Thursday morning, Hobbs was leading Lake by roughly 17,000 votes with 95% of the expected vote in.
This video was not unexpected as the Republican hopeful refused to say if she would accept the election results if she lost. Instead, she told CNN’s Dana Bash, “I’m going to win the election and I’m going to accept that result.”
Now, yes, it is a shame that Arizonans chose to elevate Hobbs, on whose watch as secretary of state these issues with the printers occurred, to governor.
Administering elections is the job of the secretary of state. And having a mess in the state’s largest county on Election Day is not a good sign if it is indicative of how Hobbs will carry out her duties as governor.
Still, Lake’s complaints in this video probably will not yield any change in the election results. Just look at Georgia’s 2018 gubernatorial election. Then-Secretary of State Brian Kemp refused to recuse himself from overseeing the election where he was running for governor. And there were complaints of long lines and issues with voting machines.
In fact, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution found precinct closures and long wait times may have prevented as many as 84,000 people from voting.
But the results of that race were not overturned, and Kemp was reelected governor on Nov. 8, 2022.
Across the country, voters went to the polls and rejected candidates who advanced claims of rigged elections. Lake is one of them. And she will have to accept her loss or stand out as one of the few sore losers who refused to listen to the people and concede.