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Former President Donald Trump on Monday again rejected the results of Arizona’s gubernatorial election, calling for Kari Lake to be declared the winner, and promptly “be installed” as governor, due to what Trump characterized as a “criminal voting operation.”

The gubernatorial contest has been called for Katie Hobbs, with the current count showing that defeated Lake by a little more than 17,000 votes out of more than 2.5 million ballots cast.

Here’s The Donald, via his Truth Social post:

Massive numbers of ‘BROKEN’ voting machines in Republican Districts on Election Day. Mechanics sent in to ‘FIX’ them made them worse. Kari had to be taken to a Democrat area, which was working perfectly, to vote. Her opponent ran the Election.

This is yet another criminal voting operation — SO OBVIOUS. Kari Lake should be installed Governor of Arizona. This is almost as bad as the 2020 Presidential Election, which the House Unselect [sic, but cute] Committee refuses to touch because they know it was Fraudulent!

I’m not going to litigate the Arizona gubernatorial election, principally because I have no proof that a “criminal voting operation” occurred. Lake, who was mightily endorsed by the former president, also suggested on Truth Social that her election loss was anything but fair:

Arizonans have no Faith & Trust in our Elections. Our Election Officials are incompetent (…or worse) They have failed us. The Fake News ignores our Fake Elections and expect [sic] us to just ‘move on.’ We won’t.

Maricopa County is home to roughly half of all Arizona voters.

Granted, Katie Hobbs is a box of rocks, but assuming there were voting irregularities in the Grand Canyon State, we don’t live in a country where losers of races are declared winners by some, and promptly “installed in office,” as a result. That’s not the way it works in America — nor should it be.

As we’ve previously reported, thousands of voters reported having problems casting a ballot in Maricopa County on Election Day, leading to an inquiry from the Arizona Attorney General’s office and a subpoena from Arizona Sen. Kelly Townsend. (The county replied to the AG’s office late Sunday.) In addition, Lake’s team filed a lawsuit in state court on Wednesday against Maricopa County, demanding information on voters whose ballots were affected by voting machine problems.

Here’s more, via the New York Post:

[Lake’s] fellow Republican Abe Hamadeh, who ran for attorney general and lost by 510 votes, has filed a lawsuit against his Democratic opponent as well as state and local officials, seeking to overturn his defeat.

Arizona counties had until Monday to certify their vote totals. Election officials in Republican-dominated Mohave and Cochise counties have said they planned to hold off on certifying the results.

The chairman of Mohave County’s Board of Supervisors, Ron Gould, told Reuters that his county delayed certifying last Monday because his board was waiting to see Maricopa’s explanations for what happened to the ballots of its affected voters.

Another fine mess, for sure.

The Bottom Line

While I’m sure that all of the above, will set the hair of some on fire, facts matter. Accusations are one thing, and serious accusations must be thoroughly investigated, more so to ensure election integrity and voter confidence than to support any one candidate.

On the other hand, unfounded allegations are just as dangerous.

As the late comedian George Carlin wisely observed, “never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.” Actual election results sometimes matter far less to one side or another, based solely on the perception of an outcome. As the old axiom says, perception is more important than facts.

Hopefully, Republicans can align the two in elections to come.