Arizona court rejects Kari Lake’s claim she won governor’s race, citing no evidence

A state court has rejected another one of Kari Lake’s legal challenges regarding her loss to Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) in the midterm elections — with the judge finding no evidence to support the Republican’s claim that she won.

Thursday’s rejection is the second ruling against the former gubernatorial candidate’s effort to prove her victory.

“Lake’s arguments highlight Election Day difficulties, but her request for relief fails because the evidence presented to the superior court ultimately supports the court’s conclusion that voters were able to cast their ballots, that votes were counted correctly, and that no other basis justifies setting aside the election results,” the court said in its opinion rejecting Lake’s claims. 

Lake argued in the aftermath of her defeat by little more than 17,000 votes that ballot printing issues at some polling locations were the product of intentional misconduct. The court, however, said she provided no evidence that voters whose ballots were not able to be read by tabulators at the polling locations were unable to vote.

In fact, the court said an expert that testified on Lake’s behalf admitted that ballots that could not be read could be physically submitted at polling locations.

“Lake’s cybersecurity expert confirmed that any misconfigured ballots (or ballots that on-site tabulators could not read for other reasons) could be submitted physically through secure ‘Door 3,’ duplicated onto a readable ballot by a bipartisan board at Maricopa County’s central tabulation facility, and ultimately counted,” the court said.

Lake responded to the decision from the court on Twitter, indicating that she would further appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court.

“I told you we would take this case all the way to the Arizona Supreme Court, and that’s exactly what we are going to do. Buckle up, America!” she wrote.

Lake has been a loud proponent of former President Trump’s baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.