Problems with voting computers in the hotly contested US state of Arizona are seized by former Republican President Donald Trump and his supporters as evidence of vote fraud by Democrats. However, a lawsuit filed by Republicans to keep polling stations open has been dismissed by a judge for lack of evidence.
Electoral authorities said at one point about 20 percent of voting computers were out of order in Maricopa County, the state’s most populous county, and technicians were needed to fix the problem. The problem was that the machines couldn’t read ballots properly. Still, all votes would be counted, the chief polling officer of Maricopa County said.
That couldn’t stop leading Republicans from raising malicious interference by Democrats. For example, predominantly progressive constituencies experienced no problems with voting computers, said governor candidate Kari Lake. The former TV host agrees with Trump that he lost the 2020 presidential election due to fraud.
Later on Thursday, a Maricopa County judge rejected a request by Republicans to keep polling stations open beyond their usual 7:00 p.m. local time. According to the judge, there was no evidence that voters were unable to vote because of the technical glitches.
On his own social medium, Truth Social, Trump called on his supporters not to resign themselves to the situation. “Reports are coming in from Arizona that the voting machines are not working properly in predominantly Republican/Conservative areas,” Trump wrote, adding: “Again? People won’t take it!!”
Democrat Joe Biden narrowly defeated Trump in Arizona in 2020. It is one of the states that has been central to Trump’s and his followers’ claims that the presidential election had been stolen from him. All of Arizona’s top Republican candidates this year are election deniers, including former TV host Lake.
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