Former President Donald Trump insists defeated Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake should be “installed” as governor.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote, “Massive numbers of ‘BROKEN’ voting machines in Republican Districts on Election Day. Mechanics sent in to ‘FIX’ them made them worse. Kari had to be taken to a Democrat area, which was working perfectly, to vote. Her opponent ran the Election.”
“This is yet another criminal voting operation – SO OBVIOUS. Kari Lake should be installed Governor of Arizona. This is almost as bad as the 2020 Presidential Election, which the Unselect Committee refuses to touch because they know it was Fraudulent!” he continued.
He shared a bizarre post from the defeated candidate in which Lake wrote, “Arizonans have no Faith [and] Trust in our Elections. Our Election Officials are incompetent (…or worse).”
“They have failed us. The Fake News ignores our Fake Elections and expect us to just ‘move on.’ We won’t. America will NOT survive if we don’t demand Election Reform NOW,” she added.
Arizonans have no Faith & Trust in our Elections.
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) November 28, 2022
Our Election Officials are incompetent (…or worse)
They have failed us.
The Fake News ignores our Fake Elections and expect us to just “move on.”
We won’t.
America will NOT survive if we don’t demand Election Reform NOW.
It is not clear what a “fake” election is. But these posts are just a continuation of Trump’s unfounded claim the 2020 election was stolen through widespread fraud.
Lake has refused to concede defeat nearly three weeks after the election.
She has vowed to do “everything in my power” to “right these wrongs” of the election.
Lake and her campaign have pointed to long wait times at polling locations and issues with tabulation machines 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.
Her team also argued the proper response is to let “Maricopa County cast their votes again.”
But at what point is this going to end? Counties in Arizona have a deadline of Monday to certify the election results.
And so far, aside from long lines and concerns that ballots that were not scanned by the tabulation machines were not counted properly, she has not provided evidence of some kind of malfeasance that altered the results of the election.
There is no mechanism to “install” a defeated candidate in office in the U.S., so such a proposition is just silly to mention.
Aside from making Lake feel better about losing, what exactly does trying to contest the election results do?
It only undermines faith in our elections. And it gives Republicans excuses to avoid grappling with why they failed to win over voters. But it makes her look like a sore loser and is a blemish on the party that will keep turning voters away.