Republican Kari Lake’s lawsuit challenging the result in the November gubernatorial race the Democrat Katie Hobbs won by roughly half a percentage point was rejected Saturday by an Arizona court.
Dismissing the highest-profile case challenging the midterm election results, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson ruled against Lake, pointing out that she had not proven that election officials committed intentional misconduct sufficient to change the outcome of the race.
In her challenge of Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs’s (D) victory filed Dec. 9, Lake claimed that illegal votes were cast in the Nov. 8 midterm gubernatorial election and that a domino chain of electoral improprieties was set off by the tabulators’ rejection of thousands of ballots.
She further alleged that she was entitled to an order to vacate Maricopa County’s canvass and Arizona’s certification of the 2022 election results.
The Republican gubernatorial candidate, who would not commit to accepting the results of her race during the campaign, lost by around 17,000 votes to Arizona’s secretary of state, Katie Hobbs, but sued Hobbs and Maricopa County to overturn the results under the state’s election contest statutes.
Judge Thompson stated in his order that the margin of victory – reported by the official canvass- is 17,117 votes and beyond the scope of a statutorily required recount, stressing that never in the history of the United States has a court set such a margin aside.
The statement also noted that Lake’s lawsuit also comes after an ongoing tumult over election procedures and legitimacy – a far less uncommon occurrence in the US – and a hotly contested gubernatorial race.
Judge Thompson stated that Lake has no free-standing right to challenge election results based upon what she believes went awry on Election Day, pointing out that, as a matter of law, she must prove a ground that the legislature has provided as a basis for challenging an election.
Lake announced in a tweet following the ruling, which marks a significant defeat for her, that she will file an appeal, underscoring that her Election Case provided the world with evidence that proves the elections are run outside of the law.
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