Arizona judge dismisses most of Kari Lake’s lawsuit challenging election results
An Arizona judge has dismissed most of Kari Lake’s election lawsuit contesting the victory of her opponent, Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs (D), after Lake for weeks seized on unproven voter fraud allegations.
Lake had asked the judge to set aside Hobbs’s certified victory based on 10 counts, alleging election officials in Maricopa County — which comprises most of the state’s population — committed misconduct and tabulated hundreds of thousands of illegal ballots.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson on Monday evening dismissed eight of the 10 counts, ruling that they did not fall under the proper criteria to bring election challenges under Arizona law, even if true, so they did not merit further consideration.
But Thompson allowed a trial to move forward on two other counts that he said, if proven, could state a claim under the statute governing election challenges: alleged intentional interference by election officials affecting Maricopa County ballot printers and chain of custody violations.
Lake, an ally of former President Trump who promoted unfounded claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election and declined to commit to accepting this year’s results prior to Election Day, must now prove those two allegations in a trial scheduled for later this week.
Lake framed Monday’s ruling as a win for her campaign, writing on Twitter, “Our Election Case is going to trial. Katie Hobbs attempt to have our case thrown out FAILED. She will have to take the stand & testify. Buckle up, America. This is far from over.”
……..
“Plaintiff must show at trial that the [Election Day] printer malfunctions were intentional, and directed to affect the results of the election, and that such actions did actually affect the outcome,” the judge said of the first remaining count in Monday’s order.
For the other remaining count, Lake claims that more than 300,000 Maricopa County ballots did not have proper chain of custody paperwork.
The county disputes that claim, arguing that Lake does not understand the various forms of paperwork and indicating Maricopa has all necessary documentation on file.
……..
- Discussion
-
Arizona judge dismisses most of Kari Lake’s lawsuit challenging election results https://t.co/TMi0xo4AMa pic.twitter.com/1SxNcZhtpO
— The Hill (@thehill) December 20, 2022
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.