The battle for Arizona has been beset by tabulator glitches, ballot watching, and unevidenced claims that voters were unable to make their mark, in a contest that could now take days to conclude.

Amid this, Lake’s campaign team and others presented a lawsuit to extend voting hours, alleging claims of malfunctioning equipment. The outcome of that suit, some believe, effectively blocked Republicans from voting.

The Claim

A tweet by John Cardillo posted on November 9, 2022, alleges that a judge in Arizona “denied keeping polls open so that Republicans disenfranchised by 25% of Dominion voting machines being inoperable could exercise their right to vote.”

The Facts

During her gubernatorial campaign, Kari Lake did not say outright that she would accept the results of the midterm votes if she did not win.

Her campaign, among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, has taken no pause in voicing doubts surrounding the count—before it has been finalized.

On Monday evening, the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Blake Masters for Senate, Kari Lake for Arizona, and Jill Norgaard (thought to be a former Republican Congresswoman for Arizona) filed an emergency motion to extend polling location hours after reports that voters were “denied the opportunity to vote” and were not told about their right to vote using a provisional ballot.

The lawsuit alleged that “numerous individuals” were told to vote at a second location if their ballots could not be read by tabulation devices, only to be told they couldn’t vote at said location “or were required to vote a provisional ballot, which, upon information and belief, will not be tabulated.”

As of now, there is no verified evidence that this happened.

The suit also mentions that “at least 36% of all voting centers across Maricopa County” experienced “pervasive and systemic malfunctions.” This, the suit claimed, “burdened voters with excessive delays and long lines.”

It’s not clear where the 36 percent claim came from. Maricopa Board of Supervisors Chair Bill Gates, a Republican, did state that while there had been an issue at about “20% of locations” where tabulators wouldn’t accept ballots, voters could had alternative options.

Specifically, if there was an issue with a tabulator, Gates explained, voters had the option of waiting for the tabulator to come online. Alternatively, they could “drop [the] ballot in the secure slot (door 3) on tabulator” or “go to a nearby vote center.”

Maricopa County tweeted that it had identified tabulation issues at 60 voter centers, representing about 27 percent of its 223 voter centers.

Maricopa County Elections Department has denied claims that voters were “burdened” with excessive wait times too.

Nonetheless, the plaintiffs asked that on the basis of their claims voting hours in Maricopa County should be extended until 10pm.

Arizona journalist Jeremy Duda, who covered the lawsuit’s hearing, reported that Roy Herrera, an attorney for Senator Mark Kelly (who opposed the extension), said the lawsuit did not have a “single allegation of an individual voter being denied right to vote today because of the problems with the printers and machines.”

This was disputed by GOP attorney Kory Langhofer. However, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Tim Ryan rejected the suit’s arguments, saying he’d seen no evidence that voters were denied the right to cast their ballots.

Polls closed at 7pm, with Maricopa County Elections Department tweeting that unofficial results would begin being posted from 8pm.

So, a judge did deny the opportunity for further voting after 7pm; in a very technical sense that would prevent Republicans (as well as other voters) from casting any further ballots.

However, the suggestions that the judge’s decision prevented “disenfranchised Republicans” from being able to vote are misleading. As the judge stated, there was no evidence presented that suggested (despite technical difficulties) voters weren’t able to cast their ballot before 7pm.

Not only was no evidence presented but, as has been widely known, there was a 26-day early voting period in which ballots could be cast in addition to polling day.

In any case, there is no evidence that the judge’s decision was motivated to keep Republicans (or any other group of voters) from voting in Maricopa County.

At the time of publication, Katie Hobbs held a narrow lead over Kari Lake, with 66 percent of votes in.

In a statement released on Twitter, Hobbs said voters should anticipate “a long evening and a few more days of counting.”

Newsweek has contacted Katie Hobbs, Kari Lake and Maricopa County for comment.

The Ruling

Misleading.

A judge in Arizona did block a Republican attempt to extend voting hours in Maricopa County, but there is no evidence that this decision was motivated by a desire to block GOP voters from casting the ballot, nor that any voters were “disenfranchised.”

While it is possible that further information or evidence may emerge to the contrary, the allegations that voters were unable to cast ballots in this case are unfounded. The judge said he had seen no evidence that citizens, across the political spectrum, were unable to vote.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek’s Fact Check team