Most of Arizona Republican Kari Lake’s election lawsuit counts contesting the election victory of her opponent, Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs were dismissed Monday by a Maricopa County Superior Court judge who allowed only two narrow claims to trial.
The majority of the claims Lake made – 8 out of 10 – in her initial complaint were immediately dismissed by Judge Peter Thompson who found Lake should be allowed to proceed to a trial on two of the counts in her attempt to prove intentional misconduct that resulted in her loss.
Democrat Katie Hobbs, the secretary of state, defeated Lake by about 17,000 votes but she asked the judge to set aside Hobbs’s certified, alleging that Maricopa County’s election officials tabulated hundreds of thousands of illegal ballots and committed misconduct and
Her motion to dismiss the hearing in Maricopa County, however, did not present any evidence or witness testimony.
Judge Thompson allowed a trial to move forward on two counts – alleged chain of custody violations and election officials’ intentional interference affecting Maricopa County ballot printers. She must now prove those two allegations in a trial scheduled for later this week.
On the first count, Lake will be allowed to present evidence that Maricopa County officials violated its election manual regarding ballot chain of custody, adding an unknown number of ballots which Lake claims resulted in her loss.
The Lake campaign will also be allowed to present evidence to back her claim on that a Maricopa County employee had interfered with Election Day printers resulting in her losing votes.
According to Judge Thompson’s ruling, Hobbs, who previously disputed Lake’s claims and had asked the judge to dismiss all counts of her lawsuit, could be called to testify in her capacity as secretary of state – an office she’ll hold until she is sworn in as governor.
Lake has railed against Hobbs and Maricopa County officials since the midterm elections she called botched and a sham, vowing, if necessary, to appeal her case to the Supreme Court.
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