On Tuesday, Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake posted a claim that a far-right organization has identified people who cast an average of 21 ballots in Arizona's last election — a variant of the debunked claims made in Dinesh D'Souza's conspiracy theory-laden documentary "2000 Mules."
"When's the last time YOU voted 21 times in a single election? Asking for a friend," Lake tweeted. "ARRESTS ASAP!" She tagged Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who is currently running for Senate.
\u201c\ud83d\udea8 \ud83d\udea8 BREAKING: \ud83d\udea8 \ud83d\udea8 \n\nTrue The Vote just testified that the Mules they tracked in Arizona went to a ballot drop an average of 21 times. \n\nWhen\u2019s the last time YOU voted 21 times in a single election? Asking for a friend\u2026\n\nARRESTS ASAP! @brnoforaz\u201d— Kari Lake for AZ Governor (@Kari Lake for AZ Governor) 1654039864
Former Ted Cruz communications aide Amanda Carpenter swiftly scorched Lake's comments.
"This lady's entire campaign is centered around unhinged threats to throw people in jail," she wrote. "And yes she is for real about to get the nomination for governor."
\u201cThis lady\u2019s entire campaign is centered around unhinged threats to throw people in jail. And yes she is for real about to get the nomination for governor.\u201d— Amanda Carpenter (@Amanda Carpenter) 1654045383
Lake, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, has swiftly become controversial even beyond her repeated calls to have people arrested over unsubstantiated election fraud claims.
She has attended events with Ron Watkins, a far-right activist and congressional candidate who experts believe to be one of the key originators of the QAnon conspiracy theory that the U.S. is controlled by a shadowy network of child-trafficking cannibal Satanists (though he denies his involvement). She also appeared with Ethan Schmidt-Crockett, a Nazi sympathizer who has called Hitler "misunderstood" and made headlines for harassing a cancer wig store over its COVID-19 mask policy.
