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JUDY WOODRUFF: Voters in
Arizona head to the polls
Tuesday to cast ballots
in the state's primaries,

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and in some of the key contests,
leading Republican candidates

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have doubled down on far
right conspiracies denying the
results of the 2020 election.

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Stephanie Sy has more
on how these candidates
are shaping the race.

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STEPHANIE SY: Republicans
in Arizona agree on a lot.

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DAWN, Republican Voter: I
want to conserve traditional
values, family values,

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First right amendment,
Second right amendment, 10th
Amendment, we the people.

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KATHY, Republican Voter: We need
to move on to the issues that
are also critical, like water

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and the border and the
economy and maintaining the
economy that Arizona has
been very lucky to have.

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STEPHANIE SY: Dawn and Kathy
are voters in Maricopa County,

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one of the largest Republican
counties in America. Both
voted twice for Donald Trump.

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But a big issue divides them
and many primary voters here,

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whether the 2020 election
was rigged for Joe Biden.

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You believe it was stolen?

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DAWN: I do.

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KATHY: That isn't true.
It's not substantiated, and
there's no evidence for it.

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BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS Anchor:
The FOX News Decision Desk is
calling Arizona for Joe Biden.

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That is a big get.

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STEPHANIE SY: On election
night, FOX News was the first
news organization to project

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that Biden had won
Arizona, shocking Trump
supporters, including Dawn.

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As a poll volunteer in
Chandler, Arizona, she says,

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only an hour earlier,
she'd seen a truck carrying
paper ballots away.

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DAWN: FOX News is on, and
they announce Trump lost
Arizona? Arizona's been called?

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How could they call Arizona?
They hadn't even gotten the
votes from our location.

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STEPHANIE SY: News
organizations don't tally
paper ballots to project
election winners, but, to Dawn,

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the early call was
enough to sow doubt,

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doubt that the former president
and those who still support
him have exploited ever since.

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How successful that
misinformation campaign
is will be put to the test
in Arizona on Tuesday.

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Republican candidates
for some of the highest
offices in the state,

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governor, U.S. senator,
and secretary of state,
have not only repeatedly

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talked about election
fraud; they have made it a
Keystone of their campaigns.

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QUESTION: You have called
Joe Biden an illegitimate
president. What does that mean?

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KARI LAKE (R), Arizona
Gubernatorial Candidate:
He lost the election,

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and he shouldn't be in
the White House. We had
a corrupt election. I'd
like to ask everyone

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on the stage if they would
agree we had a corrupt, stolen
election. Raise your hand.

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STEPHANIE SY: Kari Lake
is running for governor.

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Her campaign posters show
her side by side with
the former president.

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KARI LAKE: And we have got
And make sure we don't end
up with a McCain-Ducey RINO.

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STEPHANIE SY: At a recent
rally in Tucson, Lake
repeated the Trump playbook,

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accusing her opponent Karrin
Taylor Robson, of getting
ready to cheat in the primary.

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KARI LAKE: I guess if you're
counting people who are
dead people, who might be.

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(LAUGHTER) KARI LAKE: But she's
not up at the polls. And it

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makes me think they might
be trying to set the
stage for another steal.

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STEPHANIE SY: Kari Lake's
campaign is nothing, if
not Trump-inspired, a
media personality with

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no political experience, a
no-holds-barred style who speaks
to today's Republican base.

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But the MAGA crowd alone
can't give her victory
in the general election

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if she gets past the
primary. Biden won Arizona
by appealing to the state's
largest group of voters,

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independents, and many
Republicans crossed over.

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Are you concerned that you have
alienated those independents
and some of those Republicans

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who voted for Biden in this
state with all the talk about
decertifying the election?

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KARI LAKE: I'm not going to
change who I am. My whole
campaign has been based on

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my understanding of Arizona and
the people of Arizona. And we
want honest elections. We want

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honest elections for our
Democrat friends, our
independent friends, and
our Republican friends.

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STEPHANIE SY: While Lake
has Trump's endorsement,
Robson has the support of

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the Republican establishment,
current Arizona Governor Doug
Ducey and Trump's Vice President

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Mike Pence, making the race
a head to head fight between
the two factions of the GOP.

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STEPHEN RICHER (R),
Maricopa County, Arizona,
Recorder: I would say I'm

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sort of a libertarian-minded
conservative.

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STEPHANIE SY: Stephen Richer
is the Maricopa County
recorder. A Republican,

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he beat the Democratic incumbent
to become the county's highest
election official in 2020.

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And he says not only was the
election honest, but that his
Republican colleagues who claim

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otherwise are challenging
the underlying foundation
of the United States.

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You're saying those voting
machines were absolutely secure?

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STEPHEN RICHER: That's a fact.
Every single test has worked.
They were used in multiple

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elections that nobody ever
challenged prior to the
November 2020 election.

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They went through federal
certification. They went
through state certification.

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They went through tests
before the election.
They went through a

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hand-count audit by
the political parties
themselves, and they
always match 100 percent.

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STEPHANIE SY: But that,
spoken by a conservative
who voted for Trump,

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is still not enough for
some voters, nor were the
January 6 hearings that

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featured some of Trump's
closest allies, like former
Attorney General Bill Barr.

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WILLIAM BARR, Former U.S.
Attorney General: The
election was not stolen by

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fraud. And I haven't seen
anything since the election
that changes my mind on that.

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STEPHANIE SY: You now
have multiple people that
were close to President
Trump saying there just

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wasn't evidence to show
widespread fraud that
would have changed the
outcome. And multiple

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people have come out and said
that. They were trying to
convince the president of this.

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DAWN: I personally believe
that there are people

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that were close to Trump
that were not close to
Trump in philosophies.

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STEPHANIE SY: Multiple
investigations, court
cases, and audits showed
the election was clean,

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and that was before millions
of dollars were spent on
a Republican-commissioned

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hand count in Arizona that also
found Biden was the winner.

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But all of the Stop the
Steal talk continues,
and it's fallen on

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real people. Former Yavapai
County Recorder Leslie Hoffman
is a Republican who has worked

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in an overwhelmingly Republican
county as an elections
officer for over a decade.

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LESLIE HOFFMAN, Former Yavapai
County, Arizona, Recorder: We
see who you are. We see you. You

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better be nervous. You should
lawyer up. You're as corrupt as
the government you worked for.

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STEPHANIE SY: That's what
she finds almost every day
when she checks her e-mail.

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LESLIE HOFFMAN: I do have
concern about certain
people getting into
office that will not

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believe in the work that
we do. And, therefore,
certifying the canvass
might become a challenge.

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STEPHANIE SY: That's scary.

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LESLIE HOFFMAN: That's
Very scary. What we're
doing is so important.

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STEPHANIE SY: Hoffman
resigned a week ago, ahead of
Tuesday's primary election.

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BLAKE MASTERS (R), Arizona
Senatorial Candidate: President

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Trump-endorsed me
because he likes to win.

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STEPHANIE SY: In the
Senate primary, candidate
Blake Masters is running
for the GOP nomination

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to challenge Democratic
Senator Mark Kelly. He
also got the blessing of
former President Trump,

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after he questioned the
results of the 2020 election.

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Why are you hitching your wagon
to a one-term president who
lost this state two years ago?

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BLAKE MASTERS: I wouldn't
say I'm hitching my wagon.
I would say I'm proud of

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President Trump for what he
accomplished. I'm going to
run from President Trump's

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successful term in the general
election. Absolutely not.

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Do you know how many
independents I meet who
say: "Blake, we're sorry
we voted for Biden. Please

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bring back the mean tweets
because we want $2 gas.
We want a border. We want
to country that works"?

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STEPHANIE SY: Kathy, a
Republican Party organizer,
wants many of those same things,

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but says she won't vote for
any candidate who promotes
election fraud claims.

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KATHY: We can't have that
kind of dangerous rhetoric.

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And it cannot come from the
top of the Arizona executives.

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This is why I'm going door
to door. I know the people on
the ballot. I know the people

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who really have the heart and
soul of Arizona in their best
interest here for our state.

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And that is why I will
go every single day and
knock doors until we can't.

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Hi.
MAN: Hi. How are you?

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KATHY: Hi. I'm good.

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I'm Kathy. And I'm going
door to door for candidates
who are running for office.

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STEPHANIE SY: Knocking
on those doors, she's as
undeterred by the extreme

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heat of the Arizona summer as
she is by the extreme views
dividing her political party.

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For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm
Stephanie Sy in Phoenix.