Kari Lake will have one last chance to argue in court that she should overturn her 17,000-vote loss in the 2022 election, but in order to do so, Maricopa County will be required to do so. We need to prove conclusively that we blatantly failed to verify the tens of thousands of early voter signatures. By doing so, the county influenced the outcome of the election.

And a judge in the case ruled late Monday that Lake’s only remaining claim can go to trial on Wednesday, and the former Republican gubernatorial candidate has been given the job. I said no. She said she “must prove her claim in a clear and convincing manner.” “Her evidence,” he said, pointing out what she hasn’t done yet in her months-long lawsuit to nullify the November election.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson noted that Lake’s election fraud allegations “skip the vast gaps in the evidence presented” and that the evidence she presented “far exceeds the evidence needed to prove it.” ,” he wrote in Monday’s ruling ordering a new trial. grounds for fraud. ”

Mr. Thompson also rejected Lake’s proposal to revive the previously dismissed claims about testing the logic and accuracy of Maricopa County’s ballot printers and tallying machines. Mr. Lake’s attorney argued that new evidence discovered after the claim was dismissed deserves reconsideration.

But the judge said Lake’s focus shifted from allegations of willful misconduct against the county’s election site printers to the counters who were at the polls in November, so it was in fact a “whole new allegation” against the county. ‘, he said.

Thompson also said Lake’s attorneys, Scottsdale divorce attorney Brian Brem and Washington, D.C. employment attorney Kurt Olsen, were in Maricopa County after the election to figure out why the voting machines were malfunctioning on Election Day. unjustifiably misreported the results of an independent investigation commissioned by the US, which caused protracted voting results. Lines are forming at many polling stations. Lake said the report showed that the county’s elections official, Scott Jarrett, lied in his trial in December, claiming that the mechanical error was not the result of fraud.

But the judge said Mr. Lake’s “representation of what the[investigation]report would show is 180 degrees different from what the report actually says.” The report does not prove that there was fraud or that Jarrett lied, but rather that “mechanical errors in tally machines and ballot printers were mechanical failures unrelated to fraud or cheating.” It actually supports his claim that it was.”

At the first trial in December, presided over by Mr. Thompson, and on appeal in February, both courts dismissed all of Mr. Lake’s claims in the election challenge, asking whether it was inappropriate to take them to court in such a case. , ruled that the allegations were either unsupported. fact. In March, the Arizona Supreme Court dismissed all of Lake’s claims, except one involving signature verification procedures, but sent them back to Thompson for reconsideration, saying the judge had wrongfully dismissed them.

The two-day trial, which begins Wednesday, will focus solely on Lake’s allegations that Maricopa County failed to comply with state laws and election procedures and failed to follow election procedures. Any High-level signature review for early ballots where signatures were flagged as inconsistent by low-level signature verifiers and instead allowed to count all those ballots.

At a hearing last week, county attorneys said the allegations were wholly untrue, saying: “Allegations of fraud in this election are offensive and untrue.”

Lake spoke out on Twitter about the upcoming trial.

“Serious: Following Supreme Court ruling, Maricopa County Judge gave @KariLake an opportunity to expose election fraud in court!” she wrote.

Clint Hickman, chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, said in a written statement that he looked forward to seeing Mr. Lake present evidence in court, adding that the county “has nothing to hide.” Stated.

“We look forward to showing you our work again,” he said. “We are proud of our team and our process and are confident we will win in court where facts matter most.”