In the state of Arizona, voters rejected key election deniers, but false conspiracy theories have maintained their power, The Guardian reported. Election denialism has lived on in the U.S., especially in battleground states.
In the run-up to Arizona’s midterm elections, there were many tactics deployed to disrupt the democratic process in the battleground state. Election denialism ran rampant.
In this closely watched, tightly divided state that will help decide the 2024 election, skepticism of election results has found an audience with some Republican leaders, as the state has shifted away from Republicans in the past decade.
Though voters broadly rejected election deniers, the grip of their ideas remains strong among large portions of the right in the state, which is now at the forefront of the fight over democracy in the U.S.
Experts said that voters in swing states sent a message that they were not receptive to election denialism. But that message was not sent everywhere, and there remains a growing need for a consensus among Americans that election denialism is out of bounds.
As soon as voters started dropping off their ballots, people in tactical gear with guns started monitoring them. One rural Arizona county kicked off, then backed away from, plans to hand count all ballots. Arizona’s Republican gubernatorial candidate, Kari Lake, said she wouldn’t concede if she lost.
The state’s largest county by population, Maricopa, had printer problems, which grew claims of election denialism. While county officials and election officials have been clear that the problems did not prevent voters from casting ballots, some Republicans want a “re-vote,” a new election, and some statewide candidates who lost have refused to concede their races.
Others are filing or preparing to file lawsuits, as legal letters fly from the state attorney general’s office and the Republican party.
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