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Maricopa County investigators released a report on Monday regarding the irregularities observed during the 2022 midterm elections after the county faced severe ballot-printing problems that drew criticism from Republicans.
Maricopa, the largest county in Arizona, has recently been under scrutiny for alleged election irregularities and voter fraud in recent elections, particularly in the 2020 presidential election and the 2022 gubernatorial race. The county’s ballot printers and tabulators faced significant problems on Election Day, leading to criticism from Republicans, Just the News reported.
Former Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Ruth McGregor led the team of investigators who authored the report. According to their analysis, changes in the ballot length combined with the paperweight put a strain on some of the older printers’ abilities, the outlet said.
In order to include all the mandatory information, the county increased the length of the ballots from 19 inches to 20 inches between the August primaries and the November general contest. As per the report, the combination of the larger ballot size and the use of 100-pound ballot paper proved to be a significant burden on the printers, resulting in the observed irregularities.
“Based on our tests, and for the reasons described in this report, we concluded that the combined effect of using 100-pound ballot paper and a 20- inch ballot during the 2022 general election was to require that the Oki B432 printers perform at the extreme edge of their capability, a level that could not be reliably sustained by a substantial number of printers,” says the report.
However, the investigators emphasized that there was no significant reason for election officials to have been able to predict such a complication.
“Any failure in process or human error relates to a failure to anticipate and prepare for the printer failures experienced,” the investigators wrote. “But nothing we learned in our interviews or document reviews gave any clear indication that the problems should have been anticipated.”
The report’s release coincides with an ongoing challenge to the Arizona gubernatorial election results by former Republican candidate Kari Lake, who has cited election irregularities and alleged that machine errors in the county may have caused her supporters to be denied the opportunity to vote, potentially costing her the race.
A report on Tuesday noted that Lake is thinking about her next career move and it will not be music to the ears of many Democrats.
During an appearance on One America News, she said that she is “seriously considering” a campaign for Senate in 2024, Mediaite reported.
“I am seriously considering a run for Senate, yes absolutely,” she said. “We’re not going away. And so I am seriously considering a run for Senate.”
She also discussed her poll numbers against her perspective opponents for the job including current Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and Democratic candidate Rep. Ruben Gallego.
“All the polling shows that I would win,” she said. “Not just the primary, the polling is showing that I would beat Kyrsten Sinema and this socialist guy that’s running for the Democrats, [Rep. Ruben] Gallego.”
In a three-person race Lake and Gallego continue to poll in a dead heat, with Sinema a distant third.
Sinema, who declared herself an Independent late last year but continued to caucus with Democrats, is planning to run as a third-party candidate in a state that has become a new political battleground — and decidedly purple — in recent years.
A third-party campaign by Sinema could create a highly competitive three-way Senate race in Arizona, which could be a nightmare scenario for the Democrats in a crucial battleground state, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Sources familiar with the matter have revealed that Sinema and her team recently held a staff retreat in Phoenix. The group reportedly reviewed a slideshow that outlined a possible timeline for her candidacy, according to slides that were reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Although Sinema has not yet announced her intentions, the materials suggest that she is taking steps towards running for re-election, the WSJ added.
