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Conspiracy theory-peddling conservatives honed in on temporary issues with vote tabulation at some Arizona polling places to push baseless claims of Election Day vote-rigging.
And if the clear exhaustion of fellow conservatives forced to field questions about these baseless claims is any sign, it appears the MAGA movement is wearing out its welcome in Arizona.
Several polling places in Maricopa County, the most densely populated county in the state, experienced issues with some vote-counting machines on Tuesday. As a result, some locations reported longer-than-usual voting lines, but officials said no one was turned away from the polls and none of the ballots were mishandled.
Nonetheless, Republicans — from gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and Senate candidate Blake Masters, to former President Donald Trump and his pal Steve Bannon — all leaped on the issue, lobbing thinly veiled suggestions and outright lies that there was something nefarious afoot with the Republican vote in Maricopa County.
And Republicans running elections in the county aren’t pleased. (Four of the five county board of supervisors are Republicans, by the way.)
Some conservatives have baselessly alleged that the temporary tabulation issue amounted to something “criminal” or meant that the election would be “rigged." But Maricopa County officials have forcefully rejected those claims.
“With regard to comments like ‘criminal’ or ‘rigged,’ there is absolutely no basis for that statement,” Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates told reporters Wednesday.
Gates, a Republican, had a little extra something to say about right-wing conspiracy theorists trying to loop election workers into their self-serving voter fraud conspiracy theories.
“The election workers — the poll workers — who dealt with a very difficult situation do not deserve to hear those words, to have those sorts of words thrown at them," he said. "And this board is going to stand behind what happened yesterday, figure out what happened, get to the bottom of it, [and] make those changes that need to be made."
But Gates insisted no one with a valid ID had been prohibited from voting. And, what’s more, he said that in private conversations, no lawyers representing the Republican National Committee or any of the GOP campaigns in Arizona made the incriminating allegations their candidates had.
By Thursday evening, the Gates' team had held multiple press conferences batting down right-wing conspiracy theories, and they posted a Twitter thread detailing the facts of what happened on Tuesday for good measure.
Trump and his election-denying disciples in Arizona are clearly getting on many of their fellow Republicans’ nerves.
In fact, before Election Day, Stephen Richer, the Maricopa County recorder and a Republican, dropped this video dispelling a separate right-wing conspiracy theory about the vote pushed by Republicans, including Arizona GOP chair Kelli Ward and state Sen. Wendy Rogers.
Trump and members of his political operation see Arizona as fertile territory for their conspiracy theory-driven movement to flourish. But the weight of those lies is landing heavily on local Republicans who are increasingly unwilling to shoulder the burden.