Mike Lindell Rages at Republican Officials Blocking His Efforts

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell is lashing out at Arkansas Republicans for blocking his efforts to eliminate voting machines in future elections.

Lindell, a proponent of false conspiracy theories claiming that machines helped Democrats "steal" the 2020 presidential election from former President Donald Trump, nominated Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston for a dishonorable "Raffe Award" during a Lindell Report stream earlier this week over his conclusion that the state's voting machines are accurate and secure.

The name of the "award" refers to Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a frequent target of Lindell and other election conspiracy theorists due to his certification of President Joe Biden's victory over Trump. Lindell has also nominated Wisconsin Secretary of State Robin Vos, another Republican who certified Biden's 2020 win, for the dishonor.

Lindell claimed that Arkansas was set to "go machine-free" until Thurston blocked the efforts of Conrad Reynolds, a Republican who sued the state and has campaigned for "election integrity" after losing a bid for Congress last year in the GOP primary by 17 points. Most counties in Arkansas use touch-screen voting machines in elections, with only one county opting to move to paper ballots this year.

A group headed by Reynolds proposed an amendment to the state's constitution earlier this month that would require all elections in the state to use paper ballots, prompting the office of Thurston to issue a statement saying that he "believes that the modern, state-of-the-art voting machines and tabulators we use in Arkansas are accurate and secure."

"Colonel Conrad Reynolds went down there—the news even covered it—saying, 'You know what? Arkansas is going to go machine-free," Lindell said. "But then what happens? Their Secretary of State John Thurston sticks his big nose in where it doesn't belong and says, 'Nothing to see here in Arkansas! We don't need paper ballots, we've got the best machines. We've got trusted election[s]."

Lindell went on to point out that Thurston's account on X, formerly Twitter, was followed by Democratic Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, who he claimed was "in charge of all the Democrat secretaries of state."

"But there's more, everybody!" he continued. "Pull up his Twitter [currently X], I think he's got a little friend on there. Let's see who he hangs out with ... Jena Griswold!"

Lindell also argued that Republican Arkansas State Senator Kim Hammer could be another "award" recipient, blasting the senator for sponsoring successful legislation earlier this year that requires counties choosing to switch to paper ballots to fund their own elections while also requiring any paper ballots to be compatible with tabulation machines selected by the secretary of state.

One Arkansas count that announced it was switching to paper ballots earlier this year, Cleburne County, changed course after Hammer's bill passed. Searcy County approved a switch to paper ballots in August despite the new law, agreeing to pay for future elections with county funds.

"I'm tired of hearing about stuff about Arkansas when they work so hard down there to get rid of their machines," Lindell said. "Cleburne County goes machine-free and some other guy that should be a Raffe Award recipient, Kim Hammers [sic], the horrible senator down there, Republican, runs to the Senate and passes a bill—'If you go to paper ballots in your county, we're defunding you.'"

"Shame on you, Kim Hammers [sic], you're disgusting!" he added. "You should be up for this award too. But right now, your secretary of state passed you by."

In response to a request for comment, Hammer told Newsweek that he was "amused that Mr. Lindell would lash out at Secretary Thurston for 'sticking his big nose where it doesn't belong' when Secretary Thurston is the duly elected official who resides in Arkansas and Mr. Lindell is not even a resident of Arkansas but is meddling in the Arkansas election process."

"I am also amused that Mr. Lindell has picked Arkansas to advance his 'agenda' regarding voter integrity when Arkansas has one of the most secure election processes made evident by recent audits which affirmed the accuracy of the votes cast," said Hammer. "Arkansas has been ranked extremely high in election integrity by the Heritage Foundation..."

"The fact that Mr. Lindell has stated that he has an 'agenda' could bring suspicion regarding his true motive in trying to take Arkansas (not even his home state) back to a total paper ballot system when facts show that our current system in Arkansas has not been shown to be what Mr. Lindell and his followers are making it out to be," he added.

Newsweek reached out to the offices of Thurston via email for comment on Thursday night.

Lindell has repeatedly denounced the use of voting machines since the 2020 election, baselessly claiming that they have been used to commit massive election fraud.

The MyPillow CEO is facing defamation lawsuits from Dominion Voting Systems and voting machine company Smartmatic over claims that their machines "flipped" votes for Trump to Biden in 2020.

Dominion sued Lindell and his company in 2021 for $1.3 billion. He has refused to settle the case despite financial difficulties that have reportedly forced his attorneys to quit over millions in unpaid legal fees.

Lindell has been raising money to pay his legal bills via the "Lindell Offense Fund."

Update 11/27/23, 11:09 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include a statement from Arkansas State Senator Kim Hammer.