PHOENIX (AP) — Refusing to concede, Kari Lake, the defeated Republican candidate for Arizona governor, said Thursday she is assembling lawyers and collecting evidence of voters having trouble casting ballots on Election Day as she considers her next move.
Lake, in a 2 1/2-minute video, made no mention of giving up in her most extensive public comments since losing the election. Before the election, she had refused to say that she would concede if she lost the race to Democrat Katie Hobbs.
“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,” Lake said. “I’m doing everything in my power to right these wrongs.”
Arizona, we are still in the fight. pic.twitter.com/ytaGvqG5J0
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) November 17, 2022
She pointed to long lines at some polling places that were exacerbated by problems with ballot printers at about a third of the vote centers in Maricopa County, the largest county in the state. She said the problems disenfranchised voters who couldn't wait at the polls.
“What happened to Arizonans on Election Day is unforgivable,” she said.
County election officials said that all ballots were counted and that voters could go to any polling place in the county, many of which had little to no line, with wait times posted online.
Election officials traced the problems to a printer setting that sometimes led to ballots printing too lightly for the on-site tabulators to read. They said they used the same settings in the August primary and for pre-election testing and there were no widespread issues.
About 17,000 ballots were not scanned at precinct-based vote counters and were instead placed in a collection box to be counted by more sophisticated machines at the county's election headquarters. The collection box has come to be known as “box three.”
Bill Gates, the Republican chair of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, has blamed state GOP chair Kelli Ward and other prominent Republicans for causing delays and long lines because they told their supporters not to use box three.
“This team, we have accepted our responsibility in this,” Gates said Monday. “But I'm not willing to accept responsibility for issues that were caused by others. And it is clear to me that those lines were longer because leaders in one political party were spreading misinformation.”
Republicans asked a judge to extend the hours at polling places because of the issues. The judge declined, saying they presented no evidence anyone was disenfranchised.
Democrats voted overwhelmingly via ballots received in the mail. In-person Election Day votes heavily favored the GOP because Lake and other prominent Republicans had claimed it was more secure, which election experts dispute.
Lake has said little since The Associated Press and other news organizations called the race for Hobbs on Monday. Late Wednesday, she posted video with clips from the campaign trail set to the lyrics, “I won't back down.”
Her video Thursday said Hobbs, who is currently secretary of state, should have recused herself from any role in the election. The secretary of state creates election procedures and certifies equipment, but her office does not count ballots, a task that is done by the state's 15 counties.
Another Republican candidate for a top state office, Mark Finchem, has also refused to concede a race that AP called for his Democratic opponent Adrian Fontes last Friday, Nov. 11.
Finchem, who made election security the central issue in his campaign for Secretary of State, has shared multiple social media statements related to the absence of his concession to Fontes.
On Wednesday, Nov. 16 he tweeted "I have not conceded. We all know why. That is all," and "#Fix2022."
THE FAT LADY HAS NOT SUNG ANYTHING IN ARIZONA YET
— Mark Finchem #JustFollowTheLaw VoteFinchem.com (@RealMarkFinchem) November 17, 2022
Both Lake and Finchem had notable ties to Former President Donald Trump during their campaigns, including his endorsement.
According to New York Times senior political reporter Maggie Haberman, Lake was recently spotted at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Florida property from which he recently announced a 2024 presidential bid.
Seen at Mar-a-Lago: Kari Lake, per a source.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) November 17, 2022
----
STAY IN TOUCH WITH US ANYTIME, ANYWHERE
- Download our free app for Roku, FireTV, AppleTV, Alexa, and mobile devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Youtube