Kari Lake loses election defeat challenge in Arizona governor race

An Arizona appeals court has dismissed Republican Kari Lake’s challenge to her loss in the Arizona governor’s race to Democrat Katie Hobbs, denying her request to overturn the election results in the county most populated state and hold elections again.

In a ruling on Thursday, the Arizona Court of Appeals wrote that Lake – who claimed problems with ballot printers at some polling places on Election Day were the result of willful misconduct — presented no evidence that voters whose ballots were unreadable by tabulators at polling stations were not able to vote. The court said even a witness called by Lake to testify confirmed that ballots that initially could not be read at some polling stations were eventually counted.

And while a pollster who testified on Lake’s behalf claimed problems at the polls deprived enough voters to change the result in Lake’s favor, the court said his findings were without merit.

The appeals court wrote that Lake’s appeal failed because the evidence supported the conclusion that “the voters were able to cast their ballots, the votes were counted correctly, and there is no other basis for nullifying the results.” elections”.

Shortly after the decision, Lake tweeted“I told you we would take this case to the Arizona Supreme Court, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do. Buckle up, America!”

Lake, who lost to Hobbs by just over 17,000 votes, was among the most vocal Republicans of 2022 to promote former President Donald Trump’s election lies, which she has made the centerpiece of her campaign. While most other election deniers across the country conceded after losing their races in November, Lake did not.

Lake’s attorneys focused on issues with ballot printers at select polling places in Maricopa County, which house more than 60% of the state’s voters. The faulty printers produced ballots that were too light to be read by the tabulators on site. Lines have moved back in some areas amid the confusion.

But county officials say everyone had a chance to vote and all votes were counted, as the ballots assigned by the printers were routed to more sophisticated counters at the Elections Department headquarters.

Lawyers for Lake also say the chain of custody of the ballots was broken at an offsite facility, where a contractor scanned mail-in ballots to prepare them for processing. They claim that workers at the facility put their own mail-in ballots in the pile, rather than returning them through normal channels, and also that documentation documenting the transfer of ballots was missing. The county disputes the claim.

Lawyers for Hobbs said Lake was trying to sow mistrust in the Arizona election results and offered no evidence to support his allegations of misconduct.

Lake faced extremely long odds in her challenge, having to prove not only that a foul occurred, but also that she was meant to negate her victory and in fact resulted in the wrong woman being declared. winning. In his appeal, his lawyers argued that a trial court judge applied the wrong standard of proof in deciding the case.

Hobbs took office as governor on January 2.