As Katie Hobbs (D) is sworn in as the new Governor of Arizona, her challenger, Kari Lake (R), continues to contest the results of the November election. Lake has announced she has petitioned to transfer her election case from Maricopa County to the State Supreme Court.
In December, Lake demanded a complete review of Arizona’s election board and practices before the swearing-in of Arizona’s next governor. Arizona Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson dismissed Lake’s petition. Katie Hobbs was sworn in Tuesday morning.
RTM previously reported that Lake appealed Thompson’s ruling last Tuesday.
Lake’s latest court filing includes a request for a direct review of the November election by the Arizona Supreme Court. The filing also notes her request for a new election or a “hand recount” of the November ballots.
Lake’s petition asserts that “evidence put forward in this case, including the changing and conflicting testimony of Maricopa officials, and sworn testimony by whistleblowers employed by Maricopa” show the election process was compromised.
Lake alleges that Maricopa County officials “did not verify mail-in ballot signatures, caused ‘chaos’ on Election Day, and did not keep the chain of custody for hundreds of thousands of voters,” per a report in the Epoch Times.
The outlet also reported that on Nov. 8, top Maricopa County officials — County Supervisor Bill Gates and Recorder Stephen Richer — “confirmed there were ballot printer problems at dozens of polling locations.”
Lake argues that confusion and ‘chaos’ at Maricopa County voting sites caused “tabulators to reject tens of thousands of ballots,” which “disproportionally” impacted Republican voters on Election Day.
Lake argues that the number of contested ballots exceeds the 17,000-vote margin in the election. Lake is now calling on Arizona’s high court to “restore trust” in the election process.
According to the Epoch Times, during a late December trial before Judge Thompson, a witness testified that “14 of 15 duplicate ballots he inspected on behalf of Lake’s legal team had 19-inch images of the ballot printed on 20-inch paper, meaning the ballots wouldn’t be read by a tabulator.” The witness testified such ballots were not counted, though election officials disputed his assertions.
Pollster Richard Baris testified that “25,000 to 40,000 people who would normally have voted actually didn’t cast ballots as a result of Election Day problems,” according to the Times report.
During Tuesday’s swearing-in ceremony, Gov. Hobbs said:
“Today marks a new chapter for Arizona. As we look forward to a brighter future, I pledge that the needs of Arizonans—not partisan politics—will always come first.”
Hobbs added: “I will work with Republicans, Democrats, and Independents to tackle our state’s biggest challenges—fully funding our public schools, securing our state’s water future, ensuring reproductive freedom, making Arizona more affordable, and so much more.”
The new legislature will convene next week.
Lake refuses to concede the election. On Monday, she claimed RINO Republican and Democratic officials “stole the Arizona election” and accused them of being part of a “uniparty.”