Judge dismisses Kari Lake’s latest Arizona governor election defeat lawsuit

A judge on Monday dismissed the only remaining legal claim in Republican Kari Lake’s challenge over her loss in last year’s Arizona governor’s race, upholding Democrat Katie Hobbs’ election.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter A. Thompson said Lake failed to prove her allegation that Maricopa County failed to verify signatures on mail-in ballots as required by law.

Lake was among the most vocal Republican candidates last year, championing former President Donald Trump’s election lies that made them central to their campaign. She has built a loyal following among Trump supporters and is openly considering running for the US Senate seat now held by Kyrsten Sinema, an independent and former Democrat. Lake is also often cited as a potential vice presidential nominee for Trump.

While most other voter denials across the country admit after losing their November elections, Lake did not. She has touted her legal battle in fundraisers and speeches across the country.

Lake did not immediately comment on the verdict.

She filed a lawsuit after losing to Hobbs by about 17,000 votes, asking the courts to install her as governor or order a new election. Thompson dismissed the case, but the Arizona Supreme Court reinstated a lawsuit challenging the way Maricopa County, where more than 60% of the state’s voters live, uses signature verification procedures on early ballots became. County officials had defended efforts to verify the signature, saying they had nothing to hide.

Lake’s claim for signature verification was the subject of a three-day process. Her lawyers argued that there was evidence that lower-level verifiers who found discrepancies in the signatures sent them up the chain of command, where they were neglected by higher-level verifiers.

She did not question whether the voters’ signatures on the ballot envelopes matched those on their voting papers.

The former TV presenter faced a daunting challenge proving not only her allegations about signature verification efforts, but also that they affected the outcome of her race.

Thompson, who was appointed to the bench by former Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, said she failed to meet that high bar.

“The evidence obtained by the court does not support plaintiff’s remaining claim,” he wrote.

At the beginning of her lawsuit, Lake focused on problems with ballot printers at some Maricopa County polling stations.

The defective printers produced ballots that were too light to be read by the tabulators on site at polling stations. Due to the confusion, traffic jams developed in some areas. Lake claimed ballot printer problems were the result of willful misconduct.

County officials say everyone had a chance to vote and all ballots were counted because those affected by the printers were taken to more modern booths at the polling station.

In mid-February, the Arizona Lakes Court of Appeals dismissed claims, concluding that it presented no evidence that voters whose ballots could not be read by polling station tabs were unable to vote.

The following month, the state Supreme Court declined to hear almost all of Lake’s appeals, saying there was no evidence to support her claim that more than 35,000 ballots added to the total number of votes cast.

Earlier this month, the court fined Lake’s attorneys $2,000 for making false statements when they said more than 35,000 ballots were erroneously added to the total count.