Arizona Supreme Court sends Kari Lake’s appeal back to trial court for review
Kari Lake, a former journalist and Republican candidate for the Arizona governor’s race in 2022, had her legal challenge of her defeat sent back to trial court for review by the Arizona Supreme Court on Wednesday. The court refused to hear some of her claims while sending the remaining piece back to trial court. The legal challenge involves how Maricopa County performed signature verifications for early ballots.
Signature verification evidence to be evaluated in proper forum
Lake has had hopes that the Supreme Court has agreed to evaluate the signature verification evidence in a proper forum, according to a statement she made. She faces the challenge of proving that mail-in votes were affected enough to alter the election’s outcome.
The total number of votes that decided the election was approximately 17,000, which accounts for a very tight margin of only 0.5%.
Arizona Supreme Court orders reply to defendant’s motions for sanctions
The Arizona Supreme Court ordered Lake’s team to file a reply to the defendant’s motions for sanctions concerning the assertion of an undisputed fact that 35,563 unaccounted-for ballots were added to the total of ballots at a third-party facility. The order said that the record does not reflect such a claim and that the motions of sanctions would be considered in due course.
Lake’s 2022 election complaint raised allegations of misconduct and illegal votes. Issues raised included mail-in ballots, chain-of-custody, and problematic ballot printers. Maricopa County officials acknowledged issues with the election but insisted that every valid vote in the contest had been counted.
Two other Republican candidates also received unfavorable rulings
Abe Hamadeh and Mark Finchem, who ran for attorney general and secretary of state, respectively, also received unfavorable rulings in their legal challenges seeking to challenge their losses. Throughout the legal challenges, Lake remained steadfast, vowing to take her case to the high court.
Rumors of a Senate bid and vice presidential running mate
In the months since the November election, rumors have circulated that Lake is considering a Senate bid and that former President Donald Trump is considering her as a possible vice presidential running mate.
