Kari Lake (R-Ariz.) has filed a lawsuit in the Arizona Supreme Court, seeking to review her challenge against the results of the 2022 state governor’s race which according to official results was won by Democrat Katie Hobbs.
“We filed our Historic Election Integrity case with the Arizona Supreme Court. Pray for our Attorneys. Pray for the Judges. Pray for Justice. Pray for America,” Lake said in a March 2 tweet. In a filing on Wednesday, her lawyers alleged that some of the ballot printers in Maricopa County, home to over 60 percent of state voters, had faced problems during the election.
The lawyers stated that many Republican voters were disenfranchised following the chaos created by technical issues at certain polling sites while also pointing to a break in the chain of custody for ballots at an off-site facility.
Following a two-day trial in December, a Maricopa County judge dismissed Lake’s lawsuit citing a lack of evidence. Lake then appealed the case with the Arizona Court of Appeals. In mid-February, the appeals court struck down the challenge as well.
The three-judge panel of the appeals court had pointed out that Lake’s arguments only highlight “Election Day difficulties.”
“Her request for relief fails because the evidence presented to the superior court ultimately supports the court’s 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.”
Lake lost to Hobbs by just over 17,000 votes. Hobbs went on to assume the office as Governor on Jan. 2.
COC and L&A Testing Issues
The lawsuit filed at the Arizona Supreme Court argued that the Court of Appeals’ judgment denying Lake’s appeal essentially ratified Maricopa County officials’ decision to ignore the state’s chain-of-custody (COC) rules for ballots, logic and accuracy testing (L&A testing) requirements that are established in Arizona’s Election Procedures Manual (EPM), and the Arizona Revised Statutes (ARS).
