The top election official in Arizona's Maricopa County went into hiding on Sunday due to security concerns after the 2020 election.
Gates said that he moved to an "undisclosed location" with a security detail from the sheriff's office. The state's most populous county is the one in Phoenix.
One of the leaders of the elections department is a lifelong Republican named Gates.
He has been the target of violent threats and intimidation by right-wing extremists and members of his own party after he rejected the false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.
The issues at polling locations in Maricopa County on November 8 have caused uproar among other conservatives.
Lake, who was endorsed by Trump, lost the election to the Secretary of State in Arizona, but has refused to concede and promised to assemble a legal team.
Lake argued that the issues with ballot printers at some polling locations made it difficult for some people to vote.
The 17,000 ballots couldn't be scanned at some sites but were collected and counted by different machines at the county's main elections office, according to an Associated Press report. Box three was where the ballots were collected.
Voters had the option to go to any polling place without long lines, according to county officials. Gates blamed the long lines on Republicans and said they scared them away from placing their ballot in box three.
Gates said that the team had accepted their responsibility. I don't want to take responsibility for issues that were caused by other people. It is clear to me that the lines were longer because of the misinformation being spread.
The attorney general of Arizona wrote a letter asking for a report on the problems with the printers.
In a closely watched Arizona race, incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly fended off a challenge from Trump-endorsed Republican. Masters said there were a lot of problems with the election and called Kelly to concede.
Gates didn't reply immediately.
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