Arizona Judge Tosses Kari Lake’s Election Malfeasance Claim

Topline

A state judge in Arizona rejected former Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s bid to overturn her loss in the midterm elections, arguing the former TV anchor lacked evidence in her claim that the state’s largest county had malfunctioned to skew results in favor of Governor-elect Katie Hobbs (D)—a set of allegations local election officials strongly denied.

Key Facts

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson ruled on Saturday that Lake, who lost to Hobbs in the midterms last month by just over 17,000 votes, had failed to show evidence of her claims, multiple outlets reported.

Lake had spread, without evidence, the theory that the election was stolen from her—echoing the resounding, and baseless, claims that her ally, former President Donald Trump, repeatedly made after he lost the 2020 presidential election.

In her challenge, she argued election officials in Maricopa County—the largest in the state—deliberately delayed the vote count on election day and miscounted mail-in ballots.

Key Background

Thompson had ruled earlier this week that Lake could participate in a two-day hearing to make her case that the election was rigged—though he previously dismissed eight out of 10 claims Lake brought in her attempt to have state courts declare her the rightful winner or hold a new election. He allowed two claims to go through: Lake’s allegation that election officials didn’t follow proper requirements for thousands of ballots, and that they were responsible for defective printers that produced ballots too light to be read on voting machines. But county officials said all ballots were counted and that ballots printed on those printers were taken to separate machines that could count them.

Furhter Reading

Kari Lake Can Argue Her Claims Of Election Malfeasance In Court, Judge Says (Forbes)

Arizona Judge Rejects Kari Lake’s Effort to Overturn Her Election Loss (New York Times)

Kari Lake vows to ‘burn it to the ground’ as a judge considers her election lawsuit (AZ Central)