‘Redo the Arizona Election’ Says Trump, Pointing to Voting Issues in Maricopa County

Former President Donald Trump speaks at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., on Nov. 15, 2022. Alon Skuy/AFP via Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump suggests that Arizona redo its 2022 elections after a memo revealed widespread problems at voting sites in Maricopa County on Election Day.

“This Election was a disgrace,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Nov. 22. “They should at minimum redo the Arizona Election,” Trump added, pointing to the memo written by attorney Mark Sonnenklar, who was one of 11 roving attorneys working with the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) Election Integrity program in Maricopa County.

According to the memo, 72 of the 115 voting centers the attorneys visited, or 62.61 percent, witnessed “material problems.”

The long lines negatively affected GOP candidates on election day, according to the memo.

“Because Republican voters significantly outnumbered Democrat voters in the county on election day, such voter suppression would necessarily impact the vote tallies for Republican candidates much more than the vote tallies for Democrat candidates,” Sonnenklar added.

Additionally, Sonnenklar disputed claims by county officials that printer/tabulator problems were resolved as of 3 p.m. local time and their impact was “insignificant.”

“Collectively, I and the other 10 roving attorneys also reported that voters had to wait in significant lines at 59 of the 115 vote centers we visited (51.3 percent). In many cases, voters had to wait 1-2 hours before they received a ballot for voting,” Sonnenklar wrote.

He added, “It is certainly safe to assume that many voters refused to wait in such lines, left the vote center, and did not return to vote later.”

In response to Trump’s comments, Arizona Republican governor’s candidate Kari Lake took to Twitter to thank the former president.

“It was nothing short of mass disenfranchisement for the entire Arizona First slate and the people of Arizona,” Lake added.

(Left) Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Katie Hobbs speaks to supporters at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel in Phoenix on Nov. 8, 2022. . (Right) Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake greets supporters at a campaign rally at the Dream City Church in Phoenix Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake greets supporters at a campaign rally at the Dream City Church in Phoenix on Nov. 7, 2022. (John Moore/Getty Images)John Moore/Getty Images

Arizona 

Lake currently trails Democrat Katie Hobbs by about 17,100 votes, 49.7 percent to 50.3 percent, according to the Arizona secretary of state’s office.

Last week, Hobbs declared victory in the race, but Lake has not conceded yet.

The Arizona Attorney General’s Elections Integrity Unit has sent a letter (pdf) to Maricopa County officials demanding answers to “myriad problems” that voters in the county had to deal with on Election Day.

“The Elections Integrity Unit of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office has received hundreds of complaints since Election Day pertaining to issues related to the administration of the 2022 General Election in Maricopa County,” Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Wright wrote in the letter. “These complaints go beyond pure speculation, but include first-hand witness accounts that raise concerns regarding Maricopa’s lawful compliance with Arizona election law.”

Wright is demanding a response from the county by Nov. 28.

After the letter was sent, Lake told the Daily Mail that she “will become governor.”

“The way they run elections in Maricopa County is worse than in banana republics around this world,” Lake told the outlet.

On Nov. 21, Lake posted a video on Twitter, saying that “whistleblowers are coming forward” about voting issues on election day in Maricopa County and her attorneys are “working diligently to gather information.”

Also on Tuesday, the Republican nominee for Arizona Attorney General Abe Hamadeh and the RNC filed a lawsuit contesting preliminary election results, alleging that election officials had mismanaged the midterm election, according to The Hill.

Democrat Kris Mayes led Hamadeh by just 510 votes, a margin that has triggered a recount under the state law.

“Arizonans demand answers and deserve transparency about the gross incompetence and mismanagement of the General Election by certain election officials,” Hamadeh wrote on Twitter about the lawsuit. “I will not stop fighting until ALL voters receive justice. See you in court.”

“The @GOP is proud to join in this legal action,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel wrote in a tweet. “Maricopa County’s election failures disenfranchised Arizonans. We’re going to court to get the answers voters deserve.”

Currently, two counties in Arizona—Mohave County and Cochise County—have ruled that they will delay certification of the midterm election results.