Maricopa Official Lambastes Kari Lake on Election Gripes: 'Unconscionable'

Maricopa County Supervisor Steve Gallardo skewered Kari Lake for her criticisms of the 2022 midterm elections in a clip that spread across social media Monday evening.

Lake, a Republican endorsed by former President Donald Trump, came up short in Arizona's gubernatorial election this month, as Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs garnered a narrow victory in the divided swing state.

Following her defeat, Lake has alleged that issues with tabulation machines on Election Day disenfranchised same-day voters, who typically skew Republican, in Maricopa County—the state's largest and home to Phoenix. Maricopa officials from both major political parties, however, have defended the election and voted to certify its results.

The Board of Supervisors met Monday evening to certify the county's elections, despite skepticism from some Republicans, including Trump, about the results. The certification followed hours of public comments, in which some Lake supporters doubted the integrity of the election. Lake posted clips of their comments to Twitter.

In a passionate speech at the board meeting, Gallardo, a Democrat, called Lake out for pushing "one side of the story" by not also sharing election officials' explanations for why there were some issues at the polls.

"It's a perfect example of Kari Lake not wanting to tell voters the truth," Gallardo said. "She doesn't. She wants to push one side of the story."

He continued: "When you have folks that are throwing rocks at the system, but not wanting to tell the voters the truth—that's unconscionable. Shame on her."

A video of his speech, in which he also defended the election as "safe, secure and accurate," was posted by attorney Ron Filipkowski, a critic of the Republican Party, and was viewed more than 100,000 times as of Monday evening.

Lake shared more than 20 videos sharing Maricopa County residents speaking out against the 2022 election on Monday.

In one video, a resident said she was "disenfranchised" when she tried to vote in person and the tabulator wouldn't accept her ballot. However, she said she received confirmation that her ballot was counted, adding that others had not received the same confirmation.

Arizona Election Results: Cochise County Delays Certification

Maricopa is not the only Arizona county in turmoil over the midterms. Officials in Cochise County, in the southeastern portion of the state, voted 2-1 on Monday to delay certification of its election results.

Cochise is one of the most conservative areas in Arizona, meaning failure to certify the election could potentially backfire on Republicans. Specifically, it would have the potential to change the results in Arizona's Sixth Congressional District, in which Republican Juan Ciscomani defeated Democrat Kirsten Engel by only 6,000 votes.

Hobbs plans to file a lawsuit against Cochise County if it does not certify its results, KPNX-TV journalist Brahm Resnik reported. Lake won the county by about 18 percentage points despite losing the state as a whole by less than a single point.

Newsweek has reached out to Lake's campaign for comment.