Officials in Maricopa County, Arizona, have released a Twitter thread denying Kari Lake’s claims that the 2022 midterm elections were rigged against her by a “secret test” of voting machines.
Lake, who lost the gubernatorial race in November by more than 17,000 votes, has refused to yield to Democrat Katie Hobbs. While this claim of hers has been repeatedly dismissed in court, Lake continues to claim her election was stolen from her.
The Arizona Republican is following in the footsteps of former President Donald Trump, who continues to claim that he is the rightful winner of the 2020 election. Fox News reached a $787 billion settlement with Dominion Voting Systems in April after hosts and guests on its network mistakenly linked its voting machines to election fraud.
On Sunday, Lake’s team released a video that it said showed a “secret test” of the Maricopa County voting system ahead of the midterm elections. they said “260 out of 446 tabulators failed‘, but it was still used on Election Day in Republican-leaning areas.
Lake’s team said the tests took place on Oct. 14, 17, and 18, “after the legally mandated logic and accuracy tests.” He added that the defective machine was used in November and that the footage showed a “story of sabotage”.
Maricopa County on Tuesday hit back at the allegations, calling them “false claims.”
Officials said the footage only showed a memory card being inserted into a voting machine, as it “happens every election”.
they tweeted: “Have you seen this viral video? The people sharing this are lying to you. Release.
In a follow-up post, they wrote: “Claim: ‘Maricopa County Conducted Covert Inspections’ A counting device. Watch this video!
“Fact: If it’s a secret, why did we livestream it? can be found.”
Another post said:Conclusion: This video shows the installation of a new memory card every election. A judge had already considered this alleged “new” evidence in Lake’s campaign, but found him unconvincing. “
Lake’s team denied this, tweeting late Tuesday, “Our information comes directly from Maricopa County’s own system log files.
“This is great gaslighting, but all of our claims are backed up by our own documentation.”
The county acknowledged the video was live-streamed, but said Maricopa County “didn’t expect allies to see and catch all the footage.”
On May 22, a Maricopa County judge dismissed Lake’s claim that election officials improperly verified signatures on thousands of ballots, leaving him second only to Hobbes in Arizona’s largest county. rejected. After the ruling, Mr. Lake said he plans to pursue the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Earlier this month, the Arizona Supreme Court awarded Lake’s lawyers $2,000 in damages for promoting a “clearly false” claim that 35,000 votes were “poured” into the Maricopa County ballot. ordered to pay.
Newsweek I reached out to Kari Lake via email for comment. We also reached out to the Maricopa County Elections and Voter Registration Department.
