MARICOPA COUNTY, Ariz. — A judge on Saturday ruled against Republican Kari Lake's bid to overturn Arizona's 2022 election.
That means that Katie Hobbs will be confirmed as the governor-elect of Arizona, and the election won't be redone.
Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson, an appointee of former Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, affirmed that the court did not find clear and convincing evidence that misconduct was committed in any of Lake's accusations.
"This Court acknowledges the anger and frustration of voters who were subjected to inconvenience and confusion at voter centers as technical problems arose during the 2022 General Election," Judge Thompson said in a release from the court.
"But this Court’s duty is not solely to incline an ear to public outcry. It is to subject Plaintiff’s claims and Defendants’ actions to the light of the courtroom and scrutiny of the law."
Lake didn’t offer evidence to back her claims of widespread, intentional misconduct on Election Day at her two-day trial Dec. 21-22 challenging her loss to Democrat Katie Hobbs in the state's governor’s race
Lake also never established her claim that printer problems at Maricopa County polling places were intentional acts that would have changed the race’s outcome had they not occurred, said Abha Khanna, a lawyer representing Hobbs, who ultimately won the race by just over 17,000 votes.
Lake's lawyers focused on problems with ballot printers at some polling places in Maricopa County, home to more than 60% of voters in the state. The defective printers produced ballots that were too light to be read by the on-site tabulators at polling places. Lines backed up in some areas amid the confusion.
County officials say everyone had a chance to vote and that all ballots were counted, adding ballots affected by printer issues were taken to more sophisticated counters at the elections department headquarters.
Lake was among the most vocal Republicans this year in promoting former President Donald Trump’s election falsehoods, which she made the centerpiece of her campaign. While most of the other election deniers around the country conceded after losing their races in November, Lake has not. Instead, she is asking the judge to either declare her the winner or order a revote in Maricopa County.
Her attorneys pointed to a witness who examined ballots on behalf of her campaign and discovered 14 ballots that had 19-inch images of the ballot printed on 20-inch paper, meaning the ballots wouldn’t be read by a tabulator. The witness insisted someone changed those printer configurations, a claim disputed by elections officials.
County officials say the ballot images were slightly smaller as a result of a shrink-to-fit feature being selected on a printer by a tech employee who was looking for solutions to Election Day issues. They say about 1,200 ballots were affected by turning on the feature and that those ballots were duplicated so that they could be read by a tabulator. Ultimately, these ballots were counted, officials said.
Hobbs takes office as governor on Jan. 2.
Lake said on Twitter that she would be appealing the ruling.
You can find Judge Thompson's full ruling below:
Meanwhile, a judge ruled against Abe Hamadeh's bid to overturn the results of Arizona's 2022 election results.
Hamadeh, who narrowly lost the state attorney general's race to Mayes by only 511 votes, was one of several Republicans who filed legal challenges against the results of the 2022 general election.
The ruling came after a four-hour court hearing Friday morning where lawyers from Hamadeh's campaign argued against lawyers from Maricopa County, Pima County, and the Arizona Secretary of State's Office.
According to the judge, Hamadeh's lawyers did not produce the evidence needed to prove that mistakes were made in the 2022 election.
"The bottom line is that you haven't proven your case ... It doesn't overcome the presumption that the election was done correctly," the judge said Friday. "The examples I've seen have been voter error ... those are mostly people not following instructions."
Decision 2022
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