The Republican who lost Arizona’s race for governor just saw most of her lawsuit challenging the management of the election thrown out by a judge.
A judge threw out eight of Kari Lake’s 10 accusations of wrongdoing against election officials in Maricopa County and elsewhere in Arizona, stating that she was not using the proper protocol to bring challenges in those areas. Two were allowed to proceed, though the judge did not rule on their merits.
It’s highly unlikely that this lawsuit will affect the overall results of the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election. The current state of her lawsuit hinges on Ms Lake’s accusation that just over a quarter of a million ballots were not held in the proper chain of custody, a charge Maricopa officials say is based on Ms Lake’s own poor understanding of the processs. That dispute echoes many of the issues that arose in 2020, when Trump-aligned poll watchers cried foul over instances of vote counters and other officials doing their jobs due to the air of mistrust that now surrounds US electioneering.
Ms Lake has joined a handful of Republican candidates in Arizona contesting their various defeats. The state was a site of underperformance for the GOP this cycle and many have blamed Ms Lake’s hard-right bent and full-throated embrace of Mr Trump’s conspiracies about 2020 for her loss. Ms Lake rejects this idea, claiming that fraud and mismanagement of the election actually led to her defeat. Her opponent, Katie Hobbs, is also Arizona’s secretary of state and, as a result, is the top elections official for the state.
Notably, her campaign has yet to come forward with any proof that voters were unable to cast their ballots thanks to the problems she has identified as occurring on election day. Maricopa officials insist that all of Ms Lake’s supporters (and anyone else) who wished to cast a ballot did so. She will have to prove that and more at trial in order for a new election to be called.
“Plaintiff must show at trial that the [Election Day] printer malfunctions were intentional, and directed to affect the results of the election, and that such actions did actually affect the outcome,” the judge wrote.
The 2022 midterm challenges in Arizona also represent a last chance at redemption for former President Donald Trump as well.
The ex-president has largely remained at his Florida estate in recent weeks as he navigates the launch of his 2024 campaign amid newfound Republican hostility over his control of the GOP and the dismal showing of his allies this cycle.
Republicans celebrated news that two of the counts filed by Ms Lake against election officials will go to trial overnight Monday.
“These headlines are almost comical,” Ms Lake wrote on her own Twitter feed, responding to coverage of the lion’s share of the suit being dismissed: “Bottom line—our Election Case is going to Trial starting on Wednesday.”
