PHOENIX — Election officials in Arizona’s most populous and politically important county said Thursday they won’t finish counting votes until early next week, putting them at the center of a false narrative that the 2020 election was stolen. It has heightened tensions in one state.

With the control of the Senate at stake, the announcement was accompanied by increasingly fiery rhetoric by Republican candidates statewide, most notably gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, as Maricopa County election officials deliberately slowed down the results. ‘Roll’ to delay the victory she predicts.

Lake’s Democratic nominee, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, was in the lead by a narrow margin, but Maricopa still had about 400,000 votes to play, and tens of thousands of other counties also had tens of thousands of undecided votes.

Maricopa has come under intense scrutiny for months from promoters of the 2020 stolen election lie, which relied in part on false accusations of misconduct in Maricopa County.

At a news briefing here in a heavily fortified tallying center, election officials (mostly Republicans) urged Mr. Lake to stop and stop as workers visible behind plate glass were running the tally. rice field.

“Frankly, it’s uncomfortable for Kari Lake to say that I’m taking this slow when these people behind me are working 14-18 hour days,” Maricopa said. Congress chairman and former Republican election Bill Gates said. lawyer. “Everyone needs to calm down a bit and soften the rhetoric. That’s the problem with what’s going on in our country right now.”

According to Gates, the board’s critics are actually abusing its painstaking efforts to strengthen trust and the integrity of the vote amid distrust and suspicion. “Accuracy is most important, not speed,” he said.