Judge does not find clear evidence of misconduct in Kari Lake election case

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Judge does not find clear evidence of misconduct in Kari Lake election case

January 30, 2023

Phoenix (3TV/CBS 5) — A Maricopa County judge ruled against Kari Lake in an election lawsuit, confirming Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs won Saturday.

In Saturday’s ruling, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson, appointed by then-Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, the court found clear and compelling evidence of widespread wrongdoing claimed by Lake. I found that I couldn’t. 2022 general election.

Nicole Demont, campaign manager for Governor-elect Hobbs made the following statement After a decision is made:

A Maricopa County judge ruled against Kari Lake in an election lawsuit, confirming that governor-elect Katie Hobbs won Saturday.(Arizona family)

Lake, who lost to Hobbes by just over 17,000 votes, is one of the most vocal 2022 Republicans promoting former President Donald Trump’s election lies, and she made it the centerpiece of her campaign. Most of the other election opponents admitted after losing the November election, but Mr. Lake did not. Instead, she asked a judge to declare the winner or order a vote in Maricopa County.

According to court documents:

Lake’s attorneys focused on ballot printer issues at several polling places in Maricopa County, home to more than 60% of Arizona’s voters. Ballots produced by faulty printers were too thin to be read by on-site counters at polling stations. Amid the chaos, lines retreated in some areas. Lake’s attorneys also alleged that the chain of ballot storage was broken at an off-site facility where contractors were scanning mail ballots and preparing them for processing. He claims that he piled up his ballots by mail rather than sending them through the normal channel, and that he had also lost papers documenting the transfer of the ballots. is chanting

Her attorney pointed to witnesses who examined the ballots for her campaign and found 14 ballots with the image of a 19-inch ballot printed on 20-inch paper. Witnesses claimed someone changed printer settings, a claim disputed by election officials. County officials said the printer-affected ballots were being taken to a more sophisticated counter at Elections Bureau headquarters, so everyone had a chance to vote and all ballots were tallied. We are investigating the root cause of the printer issue.

County officials said the image on the ballot was slightly smaller as a result of a technical employee who was looking for a solution to an election day problem and opted for the shrink feature on the printer. About 1,200 votes were affected by turning on the feature, they said, and those votes were duplicated for tabulators to read. Ultimately, those votes were tallied, officials said.

Thompson had previously dismissed eight of the 10 claims filed by Lake in the lawsuit. Among them are Hobbes, who holds the position of Secretary of State, and Maricopa County Recorder Steven Richer, who flagged posts on his social media containing election misinformation that could be deleted by Twitter. There was Lake’s allegation that he was involved in censorship through He also dismissed claims of discrimination against Republicans and her claims that the mail-in voting procedure was illegal.

Chairman Bill Gates also issued a statement regarding the court’s ruling.

Today’s Lake v. Hobbes ruling is a victory for Arizona voters and American democracy. Plaintiff Lake’s lawsuit was not about well-argued facts and evidence. Instead, it was a continuation of a televised tirade from candidates who could not or would not accept the fact that she lost. I asked for the vote to be discarded and perhaps ordered to count the votes that were not cast for her.

As Judge Thompson said in his ruling, “Never in the history of the United States has a court set aside such a margin as the court can determine.” Mark Finkem and Abe Hamade In a recent dismissal of an election challenge, coupled with dozens of other rulings since 2020, an Arizona court has made it clear that frivolous political drama intended to undermine an election will not be tolerated.

In today’s ruling, the court said: It’s not perfect, because there’s no perfect system on this planet, but it’s good enough for law-abiding and valid elections. ”

More than 1.56 million Maricopa County voters turned out in the November midterm elections, beating turnout for the entire state and nearly every midterm voter turnout in the last 50 years. All voters were given a chance to vote and all valid votes were tallied.

To read the full text of Saturday’s decision, please see below.

Lake shared her thoughts on Twitter and announced her planned appeal:

My election case provided the world with evidence proving that our election was outlawed. This judge did not rule in our favor. But to restore trust and integrity in our election, I will appeal his ruling.

— Lake Kari (@KariLake) December 24, 2022

The decision comes after former Republican candidate for Arizona Secretary of State Mark Finkem After a Maricopa County judge filed an appeal on Wednesday Dismisses Lawsuit Disputing Election Results, Judge Dismisses Republican Abraham Hamade’s Election Results Challenge To Arizona Attorney General Democrat Chris Mays. The court concluded that Hamade, who trailed Mays by 511 votes and did not admit the campaign, had failed to prove the counting error he claimed.

A court hearing is scheduled for Thursday and will present the results of a recount of seats for the Attorney General, the state Superintendent and the State Legislature.