On Monday evening, a judge ruled that the lawsuit filed by Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake against Maricopa County will proceed to trial.
On Dec. 9, Lake filed a lawsuit saying that “hundreds of thousands of illegal ballots infected” the Nov. 8 election, which resulted in Hobbs’ victory and “contains more than 270 exhibits of evidence.” The lawsuit also relies on the testimony of expert witnesses.
According to Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson, Lake’s legal team has been permitted to look at 50 ballots marked as ‘spoiled’ on Election Day. The inspection is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 20.
Then, after a hearing Monday, Thompson tossed eight of Lake’s claims but allowed two that alleged officials manipulated the election to favor Hobbs. A two-day trial will take place before Jan. 2, and Hobbs and County Recorder Stephen Richer must testify as Lake requested.
According to the ruling, Lake has “alleged intentional misconduct sufficient to affect the outcome of the election and thus has stated an issue of fact that requires going beyond the pleadings.” Lake must demonstrate at trial that the county’s printer malfunctions were intentional and intended to influence the election results.
Hobbs’ attorneys argued, “Lake’s case should be thrown out because it doesn’t adhere to state standards for a valid election complaint” and urged the state to sanction Lake and her counsel.
We have 270 exhibits of evidence
Our whistleblowers are people who were intimately involved in the process
Every one of them is willing to speak to these facts under the penalty of perjury
We have the facts,we have the law, & we have precedent on our side
We also have faith.
— Kari Lake War Room (@KariLakeWarRoom) December 19, 2022
According to Lake’s attorney Kurt Olsen, the lawsuit exposes a “massive failure” at the polling stations and “tens of thousands” of disenfranchised voters due to systemic problems and failures.
In the suit, Lake is represented by Bryan Blehm, the lawyer who worked for Cyber Ninjas and Olsen, who was recently sanctioned in a federal lawsuit filed by Lake and Finchem that contained unfounded claims.
During his remarks, Olsen, who spoke after the county lawyers, suggested the judge should take note of the affidavit of a prominent cyber expert, Clay Parikh, who said the county’s “system-wide” failures resulted from intentional manipulation of county officials. A “science-based analysis” showed that 15,000 to 29,000 votes were disenfranchised. In addition, 25,000 “extra voters” were discovered two days after the polls closed.
