In Arizona, where nearly one-fifth of the machines malfunctioned, Fox News personality Tucker Carlson called for an end to the use of electronic voting machines on Tuesday night, as The Daily Caller reported.
Republicans in Maricopa County, Arizona, filed a lawsuit to request longer voting hours after at least 20% of the tabulation devices had malfunctions. A judge turned down the demand.
“I feel so sorry for you, Bret, and Martha, because it will probably be a very late night for you, and a tense one. And it points up the problem. Look, the country is really closely divided in a lot of places,” Carlson told host Bret Bair.
“Pennsylvania is one. Nevada is another. Arizona. Lots of different places. And so, you’re going to have close election results…People have to have confidence that those results are real, that they can trust the mechanics of the election.
“And what happened today in Maricopa County, where some huge percentage of voting machines, electronic voting machines, according to The Arizona Republic, 30 percent, they claim these are Dominion voting machines, but it almost doesn’t matter.”
“Electronic voting machines didn’t allow people to vote apparently. And that, whatever you think of it, the cause of it, it shakes people’s faith in the system. That is an actual threat to democracy,” Carlson continued.
Republican candidates for governor lambasted Maricopa County for the errors, stating, “I hope it isn’t malice” before promising to improve Arizona’s electoral process if elected. According to a report by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, former President Donald Trump barely lost Arizona in the 2020 election.
“We’re not really very serious about democracy if we’re using electronic voting machines, or for not requiring photo ID to vote. We could have secure elections, we don’t because a small number of people don’t want them,” Carlson said.
“But until we do, you’re going to have these moments where everybody in the country fears volatility, because one side doesn’t believe the result is real.
“And you’ve seen it on both sides. You saw it yesterday, Democrats suggesting that electronic voting machines could be hacked. Democrats. This ran in Politico. So, it’s not just the crazy right, it’s that everybody is losing faith in the system itself.”
“So, I hope if there’s one thing that comes out of this, and I hope it’s bipartisan, no more electronic voting machines. France doesn’t use them because they care about democracy,” Carlson said.
“Require ID and then we can just call it a day, everyone knows the election results can be believed, and the temperature goes down. I really hope that happens.”