Kari Lake lost her latest challenge to throw out the results of Arizona’s Governor election but says she will take the case to the state’s highest court. The case hinged on the unsubstantiated claim that election officials in Maricopa County acted to Lake’s detriment on the orders of now-Governor Katie Hobbs as well as the local government there.
Lake, a staunch supporter of Donald Trump, ran on a platform of claiming – falsely – that the 2020 election was stolen from the former president.
Since losing Arizona’s Governor elections she has insisted that her defeat against Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs was similarly fraudulent.
However, the appeals court wrote Lake’s case failed because the evidence supports the conclusion that “voters were able to cast their ballots, that votes were counted correctly, and that no other basis justifies setting aside the election results.”
Shortly after the ruling, the 53-year-old former journalist tweeted: “I told you we would take this case all the way to the Arizona Supreme Court, and that’s exactly what we are going to do. Buckle up, America!”
The post also included a link to her so-called “Save Arizona Fund” which looks to raise money to foot Lake’s legal bills as she challenges the election.
Lake, who lost to Hobbs by just over 17,000 votes, was among the most vocal 2022 Republicans promoting former President Donald Trump’s election claims, which she made the centrepiece of her campaign. While most of the other election deniers around the country conceded after losing their races in November, Lake did not.
Lawyers for Lake focused on problems with ballot printers at some polling places in Maricopa County, home to more than 60 percent of the state’s voters.
The defective printers produced ballots that were too light to be read by the on-site tabulators at polling places. Lines backed up in some areas amid the confusion.
However, the court wrote that Lake presented no evidence that voters whose ballots were unreadable by tabulators at polling places were not able to vote.
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They claim workers at the facility put their own mail ballots into the pile, rather than returning them through normal channels, and also that paperwork documenting the transfer of ballots was missing. The county disputes the claim.
Hobbs’ attorneys said Lake was trying to sow distrust in Arizona’s election results and offered no proof to back up her allegations of election misconduct.
Lake faced extremely long odds in her challenge, needing to prove not only that misconduct occurred, but also that it was intended to deny her victory and did in fact result in the wrong woman being declared the winner. In her appeal, her lawyers argued a trial court judge applied the wrong standard of proof in deciding the case.
Katie Hobbs became Governor of Arizona on January 2 after she won the tight midterm election there.
