Arizona Judge Rules Against Kari Lake in Election Lawsuit

On Saturday, an Arizona judge ruled against Kari Lake’s election lawsuit, bringing an end to the GOP candidate’s hopes of overturning the election and all but ensuring that Democrat Katie Hobbs will become the next governor of the state. 

Lake, a prominent Trump supporter, made headlines for openly denying the results of the 2020 election and contested her narrow loss to Hobbs in similar manner in the state’s close gubernatorial election this year.

Lake had attempted to convince the court that the results of the election in Maricopa County were invalid, citing machine malfunctions she claimed had led many of her supporters being unable to cast a ballot.

The 10-page ruling from Judge Peter Thompson said there was no “clear and convincing” evidence that any alleged misconduct impacted the result of the vote, Fox10 Phoenix reported. 

Lake’s team expressed confidence in their victory with the embattled candidate herself saying that she felt they had proven “beyond a shadow of a doubt” that there was “malicious intent” in the election that caused disruption. 

RTM previously reported that Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson had ordered Maricopa County to grant Lake’s lawyers access to inspect randomly selected “ballot-on-demand” printed ballots cast on Election Day as well as pre-printed mail-in ballots sent to voters.

What Lake’s team found was that “48 of 113 ballots [42 percent] reviewed during our examination were 19-inch ballots produced on 20-inch paper,” Lake’s official campaign account tweeted. 

This claim was a driving factor behind Lake’s lawsuit, and one of the primary claims that the gubernatorial hopeful made was cause for the rejection of Maricopa County’s election results. 

Lake’s next steps are unclear, although she promised to appeal the ruling in a statement posted to Twitter. 

“My Election Case provided the world with evidence that proves our elections are run outside of the law,” she tweeted. “This Judge did not rule in our favor. However, for the sake of restoring faith and honesty in our elections, I will appeal his ruling.”

Lake has previously said that she will take the case “right up to the Supreme Court.”