The election results are in and the race between Arizona’s Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and Democrat Governor-elect Katie Hobbs has been decided. Although Lake lost to Hobbs by a narrow margin of just over 17,000 votes, she has since filed an election lawsuit challenging the results.
Maricopa County Superior Judge Peter Thompson recently ruled that two out of 10 claims can go to trial. The counts include printers malfunctioning on Election Day, as well as issues with the ballot chain of custody. Lake claims in her lawsuit that printers that malfunctioned were not certified and had “vulnerabilities” that made them “susceptible to hacking.”
She also claims the printers malfunctioned due to “intentional action” and that employees of the county’s ballot contractor violated the “County Election Manual” when they added ballots of family members and also failed to secure an “Inbound Receipt of Delivery.”
Judge Thompson said Lake must prove at trial that someone interfered with the printers in violation of Arizona law, that the interference caused her to lose votes and that those lost votes affected the outcome of the election.
A two-day trial will take place before January 2 and Hobbs and County Recorder Stephen Richer would be required to testify. Lake reacted to the ruling on Twitter, writing: “BREAKING: Our Election Case is going to trial. Katie Hobbs attempt to have our case thrown out FAILED. She will have to take the stand & testify. Buckle up, America. This is far from over.”
BREAKING: Our Election Case is going to trial. Katie Hobbs attempt to have our case thrown out FAILED. She will have to take the stand & testify.
Buckle up, America.
This is far from over. pic.twitter.com/291EnXPP3U— Kari Lake (@KariLake) December 20, 2022
Many will closely watch this trial as it could set a precedent for future election results. For now, the outcome of the election remains as it is, with Hobbs as the Governor-elect. However, if Lake can prove that her allegations of fraud and interference were responsible for her losing the election, the election results could be overturned.
