PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Supreme Court has declined to hear a majority of Republican Kari Lake’s appeal challenging her loss in the governor’s race, but has revived an appeal that was rejected by a lower court.
In an order Wednesday, the state’s highest court said a lower court wrongly dismissed Lake’s petition challenging the application of signature verification procedures to early voting in Maricopa County. The court sent the petition to a lower court for review.
Lake, who lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs by just over 17,000 votes, has been among the most vocal of the 2022 Republican candidates to praise former President Donald Trump’s campaign lies, which he made central to his campaign. While most other election deniers around the country conceded after losing races in November, Lake did not.
In her challenge, the former TV anchor focused on problems with ballot printers at some polling places in Maricopa County, home to more than 60 percent of the state’s voters.
Defective printers produced ballots that were too light to be read by on-site tabulators at polling stations. Lines blocked in some areas amid confusion. Lake assumes that the problems with the election printer were the result of intentional misconduct.
County officials say everyone had a chance to vote and all ballots were counted as those affected by the printers were taken to the more sophisticated voting booths.
In mid-February, the Arizona Court of Appeals rejected Lake’s claims, concluding that he had not presented any evidence that voters whose ballots were not read from the tabulators at polling stations were ineligible to vote.
The appeals court noted that a witness called to testify on Lake’s behalf also confirmed that ballots that initially could not be read at polling stations could eventually be counted. And while one survey found that problems with polling stations disenfranchised enough voters to change the outcome of the election, the appeals court said its conclusion was baseless.
Lake’s attorneys also said the chain of custody for the ballots was broken at an off-site facility where a contractor scans mail-in ballots to prepare them for processing. Lawyers said workers put their own mail-in ballots in the pile instead of returning them through the usual channels and that paperwork documenting the transfer of ballots was missing. The province disputes the claims.
Hobbs’ attorneys said Lake was trying to sow disbelief in the Arizona election results and offered no evidence to support his allegations.
Lake faced extremely strong odds in her challenge, which required a demonstration of misconduct specifically designed to nullify her victory and cause the wrong woman to be declared the winner.
Hobbs took office as governor on January 2.
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