Kari Lake’s lawsuit to overturn election results thrown out, Lake to appeal

PHOENIX — Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s lawsuit over the results of the election was thrown out by a Maricopa County Superior Court judge on Saturday, ruling Democrat Katie Hobbs as Arizona Governor-Elect.

Lake lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs by just over 17,000 votes out of 2.6 million cast. She attempted to prove in a two-day hearing that ballot printers malfunctioned in Maricopa County because of intentional interference by election officials and that ballots were improperly added at a county contractor that handles returned mail ballots.

Lake faced extremely long odds in her challenge, needing to prove not only that misconduct occurred, but also that it was intended to deny her victory and did in fact result in the wrong woman being declared the winner.

Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson concluded that there was no clear or convincing evidence of the widespread misconduct that Lake had alleged.

“The court pointed out that even the plaintiff’s witnesses and experts all testified they had no information or personal knowledge of any misconduct by Maricopa County or any state election official,” KTAR News analyst Barry Markson said.

At the trial’s closing arguments Thursday, Hobbs’ side said Lake’s claims were based on hearsay, speculation and theatrics.

“We proved without a shadow of a doubt that there was malicious intent that caused disruption so great it changed the results of the election,” Lake said Thursday.

Thompson had previously dismissed eight of the 10 claims Lake raised in her lawsuit. Among those was Lake’s allegation that Hobbs, in her capacity as secretary of state, and Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer engaged in censorship by flagging social media posts with election misinformation for possible removal by Twitter.

He also dismissed her claims of discrimination against Republicans and that mail-in voting procedures are illegal.

The ruling also gave both parties until Monday either for Lake to appeal or for Hobbs to to go after the Republican with sanctions.

Lake announced shortly after the lawsuit results that she will be appealing.

“My Election Case provided the world with evidence that proves our elections are run outside of the law. 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 tweeted.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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