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Judge rules against Hamadeh's bid to overturn Arizona's election results

The judge told Abe Hamadeh's lawyers they did not produce the evidence needed to prove that mistakes were made in the 2022 election.

PHOENIX — A judge ruled against Abe Hamadeh's bid to overturn the results of Arizona's 2022 election results.

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."

The hearing came after a Mohave County judge rejected a request to dismiss most of his allegations in Hamadeh's lawsuit.

Judge Lee Jantzen previously released a ruling that dismissed only one out of the five counts listed in the Republican candidate's lawsuit against Democrat Kris Mayes. The four remaining counts alleging election malfeasance will be further litigated during a hearing Friday morning, the ruling states. 

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.

Late Monday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson ordered a two-day trial Wednesday and Thursday on two of the ten claims Kari Lake made in contesting Democrat Katie Hobbs' 17,000-vote victory. 

Secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem and Congressional candidate Jeff Zink filed a lawsuit earlier in the year to overturn the results of the November election.

Their lawsuit was against current Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, Finchem’s secretary of state opponent, Democrat Adrian Fontes, and Zink’s opponent in Congressional District 3, Rep. Ruben Gallego.

In her ruling, Judge Melissa Julian granted Hobbs' motion to dismiss the election contest and confirmed the election of Fontes as Secretary of State.

  

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