Arizona Republicans Kari Lake, Mark Finchem sue over ballot tabulation machines

PHOENIX — Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and state Rep. Mark Finchem filed a motion Wednesday for a preliminary injunction to stop the use of ballot tabulation machines in Arizona.

The two in the lawsuit that was filed in federal court claim the ballot tabulation machines are not secure, have documented and unfixable security failures and lack transparency, which they say is a violation of multiple constitutional rights.

“We know that they are not secure, they are not transparent and they’ve been used to manipulate the vote,” Lake said on KTAR News 92.3 FM’s the Mike Broomhead Show.

“It’s not a partisan issue, politicians on both sides of the aisle criticized the vulnerabilities, the lack of security and transparency in these electronic voting machines.”

Finchem in a statement said it is reasonable to ask if the defendants in the lawsuit, which include Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and board of supervisors for Maricopa and Pima counties, know how the machines “actually work” and claim the tabulation machine companies refuse to make their system and software open to the public.

He added the lawsuit includes evidence and sworn declarations “from five top former military and civilian cyber and cyber-security experts.”

The lawsuit requests a precinct-level hand-counting of ballots on secure papers and cameras to allow “total transparency to the public including an auditable tabulation.”

Multiple Republican efforts have sought to change voting procedures in Arizona following the 2020 election, stemming from questions regarding the validity of Joe Biden’s win in the state and the effort for more transparency.

However, multiple reviews of the election in Maricopa County, Arizona’s largest county, have yet to turn up evidence that would overturn the Democrat’s victory.

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