“Election deniers,” “baseless claims,” “conspiracy theorists”: These buzz words peddled by the mainstream media have been slapped on anyone who has ever questioned why America has such messy elections. Rife with errors, the November 8 midterms, particularly in Maricopa County, Arizona, felt eerily reminiscent of the irregularities of the 2020 presidential election, on which The New American has reported extensively.

In Maricopa County, official reports now claim some 300,000 mail-in ballot signatures could not be verified — but were counted. Add to that the hours-long wait times owing to malfunctioning voting machines on Election Day that posed the risk of disenfranchising tens of thousands of Arizonans. 

“While Maricopa County’s printer issue in 2022 impacted more Vote Centers than normal, every voter was afforded the ability to legally and securely cast their ballot,” argued Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates after the election. 

Yet a stunning 59 percent of the 223 voting centers had printer issues. 

Kari Lake Sues Arizona 

After waiting more than two weeks to get a final vote tally in multiple races, it was another five days after Secretary of State Katie Hobbs had officially certified all but two contests in the Arizona midterms — including her own race for the governor’s seat — when former Fox News anchor and GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake filed her second lawsuit against Hobbs and Maricopa County officials, claiming that thousands of illegal votes cast had “far exceed[ed]” the 17,117-vote margin of victory for Hobbs.

“It exposes the dark underbelly of rigged elections,” said Lake of her recent 70-page filing, which boasts 278 additional pages of exhibits, as well as sworn testimonies from whistleblowers at Runbeck Election Services, the company that prints the ballots for Maricopa County and other counties across the country.

“Maricopa County election officials engaged in numerous breaches of Arizona election law in their handling and custody of ballots, making it impossible to conclude that the vote tallies reported by Maricopa County accurately reflect the votes cast by Arizona voters,” continues Lake’s suit challenging the results of the governorship and requesting a judge nullify the current election and order a redo.

It’s no secret that Arizona deals with high volumes of mail-in ballots, explained Lake in an interview on December 12 with radio-show host Charlie Kirk. The process contains really only one key security feature — the signature on the back of the ballot envelope — beginning the ballot’s chain of custody, which is extremely important for keeping close track of the ballots. 

Election chaos: At least 59 percent of the 223 voting centers in Maricopa County had printer issues on Election Day. Whistleblowers also claim ballots with unverifiable signatures were being completely tossed out, then got looped back into the system and counted as if they were fine. (AP Images)

Through mail-only elections, this country runs the very tangible risk of those in power rigging elections to stay in power or gain more power, thwarting the will of the people via highly sophisticated means of manipulating the vote to favor one candidate over another. 

Currently, seven states have signed into law the nefarious practice of universal mail-in ballots. Most recently joining Washington, Oregon, Utah, Hawaii, Nevada, and Colorado is the state of California, where Governor Gavin Newsom has said he signed the law “because we believe in making voting EASIER and for every voice to be heard.” 

Expect more Democratic states to expand this list, as they have seen how effectively elections can be won using this process. 

In her lawsuit, Lake outlined the dangers inherent in mail-in ballots, specific to her election, arguing that there were “complete abject failures, proven by expert witnesses who gave sworn testimony” in the areas of signature verification and chain of custody of mail-in ballots. 

Furthermore, subject experts investigating claims of voting machines both in Maricopa County and throughout the state not being certified — the basis of Lake’s first lawsuit — despite the county arguing the opposite have concluded that the malfunctioning of numerous machines simultaneously could not have been done without “intentional misconduct.” 

One Phoenix-based expert named Michael Schafer spoke on record with The New American about the dismissal of Lake’s first lawsuit, noting that “the [justice] system is not working as it should,” confirming that new litigation on the authenticity of the vote-machine certification was underway and would be announced after this article goes to print. 

With so much trust in American elections waning, transparency in the election process has never been more important. If the process is not fixed now, it risks being broken forever. And many Americans are asking: How do we fix it? 

As The New American’s Kurt Hyde wrote in his 2021 article “Restoring Election Integrity,” “Traditional American elections — those from the mid-1800s until the mid-1900s — were among the most trusted in the world…. At that time, every aspect of American elections, except the marking of the voters’ secret ballots, was open to the public.” Thus, to return to that transparency that was once in place, every part of the election process should be open to public observation. Yet this is not the case today.

“Safe, Accurate, and Secure”

Not only were recent elections not open to the general public, but also many poll watchers were prevented from observing the process. Indeed, the future looks grim in light of the past, with the power of rigged elections on the Democrats’ side. Plus, those who dare to speak out are soundly silenced, as America seems to be on an unstoppable train toward a Venezuela-style situation of corruption, poverty, and darkness. And running roughshod over the people are none other than both Republican and Democratic election officials, who seem to be blasting their way down the corruption track.

When Maricopa County Supervisors Chair Gates, a Republican, followed through with canvassing the densely populated county’s vote totals, he fulfilled a “statutory responsibility” despite a “plethora of reports from election workers, poll watchers, and voters, including the county’s admission of widespread printer problems.”

“Secure and accurate” was the mainstream media’s description of the election, though even Gates acknowledged “this was not a perfect election. There were issues,” adding, “but we were transparent about that.”

As of this writing, the county still has not provided reasonable explanations of the problems that marred Election Day, when Lake supporters were expected in a surge of in-person voting. The malfunctioning of vote-machine tabulators that were unable to read ballots affected some 71 vote centers, which represents 31 percent of the 223 centers that were open on November 8.

In the aftermath, Gates promised, “we will do everything we can to make sure this does not happen in future elections.” Yet the supervisor and many of his Republican — and Democratic — colleagues took no steps to address the egregious flaws of the compromised election.

Conflicts of Interest  

During a heated public-comments hearing at a Maricopa County Board meeting following the election, angry citizens pointed out the errors of the election process and the conflicts of interest within the group of people running the elections. Many voters were demanding a redo. A conflict of interest repeatedly pointed out by voters was that Hobbs, the acting secretary of state — who oversees elections — refused to recuse herself from the process, despite running as the Democratic gubernatorial candidate. Then there is Maricopa County Supervisor Steve Gallardo, who served as co-chair of the Latinos for Katie Hobbs Coalition, now a member of Hobbs’ transition team.

“Honored to be part of Governor-Elect Hobbs transition team. I look forward to working with such a diverse group of Arizona leaders. #MovingArizonaForward,” tweeted Gallardo on November 22.

As The Gateway Pundit exposed in its coverage, the conflict-of-interest list runs long. In addition to the above,

• Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, who oversaw early voting, founded and operated the Pro-Democracy Republicans PAC, a dark-money PAC aimed at eliminating candidates with a MAGA agenda.

• Maricopa County Chairman Bill Gates, who oversaw the election on Election Day, openly rooted against Trump-Endorsed candidates, calling their win in the primaries a “catastrophe” and saying, “I think they are electable, which is frightening.”

• Katie Hobbs threatened to sue any county that did not certify this election and hand her the Governorship.

Hobbs moved forward with a lawsuit and threats of felony charges against Cochise County officials for delaying certification.

“No Choice” but to Certify

Maricopa County, along with Arizona’s 14 other counties, had a deadline of November 28 to collect their final votes totals and report the results to Secretary of State Hobbs’ office, which threatened lawsuits and felony charges should any county refuse to certify.

By the deadline, two counties — Mohave and Cochise — had delayed certification in protest of the widespread issues in Maricopa County. Cochise County had also demanded documentation of the certification of its voter machines, which the state election office reportedly provided, but, according to experts appealing the county’s response, was not legal. 

In the end, Mohave County’s Board of Supervisors, in a vote of 4-0, chose to sign off on the election, with two supervisors telling the press that they felt pressured to certify, that they had “no choice” but to vote “yes” or face a felony charge from Secretary Hobbs.  

Mohave County Supervisor Hildy Angius and Chairman Ron Gould were among the bullied. Angius reportedly spent part of the Monday ahead of the vote to certify talking with her constituents and Republican Congressman Paul Gosar. Ultimately, Angius felt that between the choice to certify the election or “essentially void the county’s votes in the state canvass,” the latter would “certainly disenfranchise” voters.

“I vote aye under duress,” Gould said at the meeting. “I found out today that I have no choice but to vote aye or I’ll be arrested and charged with a felony. I don’t think that’s what our founders had in mind when they used the democratic process to elect our leaders, our form of self-governance. I find that very disheartening.”

Cochise County’s Board of Supervisors was less cowardly and thus was slapped with two lawsuits, one by the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans, which demanded a canvass be completed by December 1, and another by Secretary Hobbs, who said the three-member board could be charged with serious crimes for violating Arizona’s election laws.

In a letter dated November 21 to the Cochise County board from State Elections Director Kori Lorick, Lorick stated that Hobbs was legally bound to approve the statewide canvass by December 5, and that Cochise County’s votes would be void if they were not reported in time. Moreover, if those votes were not counted, two close races, one a U.S. House seat and another for state schools chief, could potentially flip from Republican to Democratic. By the end of the day on December 1, Cochise had certified. 

Proving the Fraud

“The only way to stop the [MAGA] movement is to stop Election Day,” declared Lake on the Charlie Kirk Show on December 12. “Mixed in ballots were also a huge problem,” she continued. “Ballots cast in at least 16 voting centers had uncounted votes mixed in with the counted votes. The Board of Supervisors report is downplaying the level of ineptitude and incompetence and malfeasance on Election Day.” 

Maricopa County officials reported that roughly “one percent of total ballots cast ultimately couldn’t be counted at polling sites by those [faulty] machines but were later tallied at the county’s elections center.” 

It took all day to resolve the issue with the printers, from 6:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. There is no question that many voters chose not to wait in the long lines, or that many people who were told to vote at a second polling center didn’t make it to that center to vote.

Yet on December 5, Secretary Hobbs sat alongside Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, Attorney General Mark Brnovich, and state Supreme Court Justice Robert Brutinel to certify some 2.5 million votes cast in the Copper State on November 8, with Hobbs emphasizing the high voter turnout of more than 60 percent participation across the state.

“Preparing for an election is an immense undertaking,” opined Hobbs. “And while this one was not without challenges, we saw extremely high participation for a midterm election.”

The challenges were indeed manifold and widespread. Voting issues occurred throughout Election Day, from morning to evening, resulting in the potential disenfranchisement of thousands of Arizonans, many of whom aired their grievances before the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors during a four-hour “election review” meeting in late November. Despite the protests, the board unanimously voted to certify the results.

Attorney General Mark Brnovich demanded the county explain its actions, but was met with a county defiant in defending its actions, even as it acknowledged there were significant errors.

“This election was safe, secure, and accurate. That’s the bottom line,” said County Supervisor Steve Gallardo from District 5. “The rhetoric suggesting otherwise is the true threat to our democracy, and a disservice to the hard-working election employees and officials who ensured voters had the ability to cast their vote,” he continued. “We will push past the noise, focus on what matters, and continue to follow the law. That’s what we’re doing today with this canvass, moving Arizona forward and respecting the will of 1.56 million Maricopa County voters.”

Without strong GOP backing, Lake has also moved forward, vowing to stand with the people of Arizona, many of whom are on her side. In addition to outlining the “bad facts” of the “botched” election, Lake’s lawsuit blasted Hobbs’ performance as secretary of state, and asserts that gross federal violations were committed by her office and the Maricopa County Recorder and Elections Department.

“This case is about restoring trust in the election process — a trust that Maricopa County election officials and Hobbs have shattered. The judicial system is now the only vehicle by which that trust can be restored,” reads the lawsuit.

Court documents released on December 5 further accuse Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer and Secretary Hobbs of participating in an act of “unconstitutional government censorship” in which the federal government also played a key role, partnering with social-media companies such as Twitter and Facebook to “remove speech they didn’t like from public view.”

The lawsuit is currently being reviewed by the secretary of state’s office, according to spokeswoman Sophia Solis. 

Maricopa County officials offered no comment to Lake’s request for an overturning of the current election results and a re-vote, but Jason Berry, a Maricopa County spokesperson, did state that the county “respects the election contest process and looks forward to sharing facts about the administration of the 2022 general election and our work to ensure every legal voter had an opportunity to cast their ballot.”

In a response posted on her Twitter account, Hobbs called the lawsuit “Kari Lake’s latest desperate attempt to undermine our democracy and throw out the will of the voters.” A statement from Hobbs’ campaign called the lawsuit a “sham,” and reminded Arizonans that Hobbs remained “laser-focused” on “getting ready to hit the ground running on Day One of Katie Hobbs’ administration.”

Threats and intimidation: Katie Hobbs not only refused to recuse herself from the elections process as secretary of state, but her office threatened counties refusing to certify the election with felony charges and penalty fines.  (AP Images)

Calls for a Redo

Many believe that what happened in Maricopa County was an across-the-board sabotage of an election, and all Americans should be deeply concerned. “The lawsuit is full of judgment issues,” said Lake in an interview. “Stephen Richer and Bill Gates had a singular mission: to defeat me!” 

Lake estimates that 30,000-50,000 people were denied a vote on November 8, proclaiming, “If we don’t stand up, we’re not going to have a future!” 

For Lake, the path forward was getting a judge to allow for an inspection of the ballots from the election, including signature envelopes and corresponding signatures on file. Her request would be granted later. “As we extrapolated the data we have, when we look at signatures, up to 175,000 signature ballots do not have the signature there. That is the danger of mail-in ballots, which is the norm in Arizona,” she said.

Certainly, as mail-in voting becomes ubiquitous, the integrity of free and fair elections becomes more and more severely compromised. Mail-in ballots are but one seed of the “poisonous fruit of election fraud” corrupting our political system, to borrow from author and elections scholar Peter Navarro. Mail-in ballots can be counted for the deceased, as duplicate votes, for people who have voted in multiple counties and states, for noncitizens — the list goes on. 

Several whistleblowers in Maricopa County conducting the signature-verification process have offered sworn testimony of how they were shocked at the number of mail-in ballots that came in with failed signatures. Supposedly 20-45 percent of these ballots were being denied, as signatures were not matching. 

Lake asserts that the process of curing ballots — in which ballots are sent back to the voter and “cured” of errors such as unmatching signatures — was not taking place, and people were not getting their ballots. In the days after the election, roughly 25,000 more ballots were counted. “We want a judge to give us access to those ballots,” said Lake. “We want to look at all of them…. We need to have a better handle on our elections!”  

The remedy, for Lake, is a new election. “We believe there may be upward of 100,000 bad ballots because of no signature verification. Some curing was done at an offsite curing center. We want to make sure that if the election is redone that Hobbs, Richer, and Gates have nothing to do with it! We need an independent, off-site source to conduct the election for us.”

“Pray for a courageous judge in Judge Peter Thompson [who is overseeing the case], we hope he has an open heart and mind,” Lake said.  

Fighting for Arizonans: Election Day in Arizona was a mess, with mass disruptions. Many came forward to tell the truth about what happened. We have to trust this is about the law and protecting the integrity of the vote and transparency in our elections. (AP Images)

Not Giving Up

Many Americans have not been silent in decrying the outrage of the irregularities in both the 2022 midterms and the 2020 presidential election. We must remain diligent in pursuing honest elections and not give up. 

Lake, an outspoken supporter of election reform, has called for a return to paper ballots and same-day voting and has vowed to continue to fight “sham elections.”

Her message is a plea to Americans to stand up, to speak out, and to demand accountability and election reform. “When we didn’t deal with what happened in 2020, and deal with it honestly, because people were being censored, because they were afraid to speak out about it, this is what you get…. The people are losing faith in the system of our elections, and we’re going to have a situation where nobody feels like their vote counts,” she exclaimed.

“You simply can’t make this stuff up,” she continued, explaining that any ethical person would move to investigate and correct the issues. “We the People will not forget. God will not forget. And I will not quit.”

Without the sacred right to vote, and without honest and transparent elections, there is no America.