PHOENIX (AP) – The Arizona Supreme Court has refused to hear most of the Republican Kari Lake’s appeal in the challenge of defeat in the governor’s race, but revived the claim that was dismissed by the trial court.
In an order Wednesday, the state’s highest court said a lower court rejected Lake’s claim challenging the application of a signature verification procedure on early ballots in Maricopa County. The court sent the statement back to the court for consideration.
Lake, who lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs by more than 17,000 votes, is one of the most vocal 2022 Republican candidates promoting former President Donald Trump’s election fraud, which has been central to her campaign. While most other election deniers around the country conceded after losing the race in November, Lake did not.
In his challenge, the former TV anchor focused on problems with ballot printers in some polling places in Maricopa County, home to more than 60% of the state’s voters.
Defective printers produce ballots that are too light to be read by on-site tabulators at polling places. Lines were backed up in some areas amid the confusion. Lake alleged the ballot printer problems were the result of intentional misconduct.
County officials said everyone had a chance to vote and all ballots were counted because those affected by the printer were taken to more sophisticated counters at election headquarters.
In mid-February, the Arizona Court of Appeals rejected Lake’s claim, concluding he had not provided evidence that voters whose ballots could not be read by tabulators at the polling place could not vote.
The appeals court noted that a witness called to testify on Lake’s behalf confirmed the illegible ballots at the polling place may have been counted. And when the pollster testified that the issue of disenfranchised polling places enough voters to change the election results, the appeals court said his conclusion is not based.
Lake’s lawyers also said the chain of custody for ballots had been broken at an off-site facility where contractors scan ballots to prepare them for processing. The lawyer contended that workers placed their own ballots in the pile instead of returning them through normal channels, and that documents documenting the transfer of ballots were lost. The county disputes the claim.
Hobbs’ attorney said Lake was trying to spread disbelief in the Arizona election results and offered no evidence to back up the allegations.
Lake faced a very long obstacle in her challenge, which required proving wrongdoing specifically intended to deny her victory and which caused the wrong woman to declare the winner.
Hobbs took office as governor on January 2.