Although the results of last week’s midterm election determined that Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake came up short in her bid against Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, she announced this week that she has no intention of giving up just yet.
With a number of votes still uncounted and a narrow divide between the two candidates, it is possible that there will be an automatic recount. Arizona law calls for a recount whenever the difference between candidates is smaller than 0.05%.
I for one encourage @KariLake not to concede.
Too many mathematically improbable and in some cases impossible irregularities.
Fight this till the end. Force Ducey to open an investigation while he still can.
— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) November 15, 2022
Lake has also spoken out extensively about the irregularities and mishaps that plagued voters in Maricopa County on Election Day.
“I’m still in this fight with you,” she declared in a statement on Thursday, calling the electoral complications “unforgivable” and asserting that “tens of thousands of Maricopa County voters were disenfranchised.”
As part of her ongoing effort, Lake said that she had already “assembled the best and brightest legal team” to look into “every avenue to correct the many wrongs that have been done this past week.”
An array of tabulation errors and other issues led to long lines and frustrated voters on Election Day, which is when a disproportionate number of Republicans typically cast their ballots.
In a statement shortly thereafter, Lake’s campaign called the process “an untransparent joke,” adding she would prioritize election reform upon being sworn in as governor. Lake also chided election officials for their failure to provide timely results.
More than a week later, she had not yet conceded the race and vowed to keep fighting to ensure that every vote cast in the race was counted.
“I can promise one thing,” she said in the recent video. “This fight to save our republic has just begun.”
Of course, Hobbs was quick to seize on early projections that indicated she was the winner of the race.
“In this election, Arizonans chose to solve our problems over conspiracy theories,” she said in a victory speech earlier this week. “We chose sanity over chaos. And we chose unity over division. We chose a better Arizona, and we chose democracy.”
Last month, Lake refused to preemptively affirm that she would accept the stated results of the election, explaining: “I’m going to win the election and I’m going to accept that result.”
