Tuesday, Aug. 2, is an essential primary day in Arizona, and reports by mid-afternoon, there were already damning reports of election problems in Pima County.
Lake had appeared on the War Room with Steve Bannon and Ben Berquam earlier in the morning and said:
"We're not going to turn Arizona into California. We are going to keep what makes us uniquely Wild West here in Arizona and I'm just so thrilled to be here with the people of Arizona in this fight."
Polls close at 7:00 p.m MT.
We're in this fight together. Vote.#ElectionDay pic.twitter.com/CkqgGtMbOu
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) August 2, 2022
Little did she know that her opponent, Candidate Matt Salmon who was polling around 2%, dropped out of the race at the last minute, however his name was still on the ballot.
“Matt Salmon had a huge part in taking down Gingrich, vacated his seat to Jeff Flake, who turned on him for Sarah Palins endorsement, then Salmon STILL campaigned for Flake for senate,” one long-time resident of AZ Pima co-wrote on Twitter.
“How many voters are being told by the poll workers in Pima County that Matt Salmon withdrew?
This is electioneering, and it happened to @GarretLewis !” Republican Kari Lake, candidate for Governor, posted on Twitter.
Candidate Wendy Rogers chimed into Maricopa county recorder Stephen Richer:
@stephen_richer, your elections people should not be saying candidates’ names to voters. Why are they telling people Matt Salmon has withdrawn when he is on the ballot? That is illegal. Voters need to press charges. Record everything. Election tampering.
.@stephen_richer your elections people should not be saying candidates names to voters. Why are they telling people Matt Salmon has withdrawn when he is on the ballot? That is illegal. Voters need to press charges. Record everything. Election tampering.
— Wendy Rogers (@WendyRogersAZ) August 2, 2022
“Already reports of electioneering going on in Pima County. Poll watchers were telling voters that Matt Salmon had withdrawn from the race. Some believe it was intentional to push those voters into voting for Kari’s Lake’s opponent- Karrin. This is highly unethical and against Arizona election law,” one analyst reported on social media.
https://twitter.com/Coop_GIS/status/1554567664722448384?s=20&t=JpLzPnR690FESP_ixGr3qw
“I just witnessed electioneering while I voted. It happened to me! @pimaarizona Pima County Elections Department told workers you can tell people Matt Salmon has withdrawn when you hand people their ballot. This is being done to hurt @KariLake Where else is this happening?” Garret Lewis, the Morning host/program director at KNST in Tucson, reported.
I just witnessed electioneering while I voted. It happened to me! @pimaarizona Pima County Elections Department told workers you can tell people Matt Salmon has withdrawn when you hand people their ballot. This is being done to hurt @KariLake. Where else is this happening? pic.twitter.com/OqdUWFQdaP
— Garret Lewis (@GarretLewis) August 2, 2022
The confusion over Matt Salmon was happening when a poll was released showing Lake in a good-sized lead.
POLL: @trafalgar_group (R)
2022 #AZGov GOP Primary Final Poll
Kari Lake 49%
Karrin Taylor Robson 38%
Matt Salmon 3%**
Scott Neely 2%
Paola Tulliani-Zen 2%
Undecided 6%1,064 LV | 7/30-8/1https://t.co/np8lQ663TR
— PPUSA (@PollProjectUSA) August 2, 2022
• Conducted 07/30/22 – 08/01/22
• 1064 Respondents
• Likely 2022 GOP Primary Voters
• Response Rate: 1.42%
• Margin of Error: 2.9%
• Confidence: 95%
• Response Distribution: 50%
• Methodology: TheTrafalgarGroup.org/Polling-Methodology
AZ US Senate Race
Scott Neely chimed into the battle and posted:
A vote for Matt Salmon will not even be counted and will be wasted since he dropped out hence they should not be polling him since votes for him legally do not count. But it's cool since the AZGOP is going to have to pay me big in court for a voter and candidate SUPPRESSION soon.
— Scott Neely (@ScottNeelyAZ) August 2, 2022
Lake was in good spirits even with the news of the electioneering.
https://twitter.com/KariLake/status/15545161508635