Arizona election officials battle conspiracy theories as voters head to the polls

Two years after former President Trump attempted to overturn his loss to Joe Biden, the electoral process remains in the shadow of the 2020 election, plagued by threats to election workers, efforts to misinform or intimidate voters and the rise of far-right candidates who have echoed false claims of election fraud. “The widespread issues — in an election administered by Democrat Secretary of State Katie Hobbs — are completely unacceptable, especially as Republicans flock to the polls to vote in-person on Election Day.” Tammy Patrick, a former federal compliance officer for the Maricopa County Elections Department, said that while it’s “disconcerting” that so many vote centers are having difficulties with ballot tabulators, it’s not uncommon for the machines to have issues. Arizona is one of the states featured prominently in “2000 Mules,” a discredited film by right-wing conspiracy theorist Dinesh D’Souza that claims cellphone data show that thousands of so-called “mules” stole the 2020 election by stuffing boxes in swing states with fake ballots. “Kari Lake is as fervent an election denier as Donald Trump, and unlike him, she’s actually on the ballot,” said Norm Eisen, an elections and political law expert who served as President Obama’s ethics czar. “This is possibly the last election in our lifetime if we don’t elect the right people, if we don’t stop the election deniers on the ballot, who are much more focused on the 2020 election than this one.” Steve Brown, a 73-year-old retired teacher who attended the Hobbs event, told The Times he thought a Republican streak at the top of the ticket is “the next step along the slippery slope to authoritarian government.” Adele Allyn, a 57-year-old administrative assistant, attended the event with her daughter, 37-year-old registered behavior technician Adele Baker, and two grandchildren.