OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Republican Arizona candidate for governor, Kari Lake, has officially filed a challenge to the election in which she was defeated by Democrat candidate and Secretary of State Katie Hobbs.
She filed the challenge on Friday and said that she believed that the number of illegal votes was greater than her opponent’s margin of victory, Just The News reported.
LFG pic.twitter.com/pBPWONtAeW
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) December 10, 2022
“The number of illegal votes cast in Arizona’s general election on November 8, 2022 far exceeds the 17,117 vote margin… Witnesses who were present…show hundreds of thousands of illegal ballots infected the election in Maricopa County,” the petition said.
🚨🚨Kari Lake vs. Katie Hobbs🚨🚨
“The number of illegal votes cast in Arizona’s general election on November 8, 2022 far exceeds the 17,117 vote margin…
“Witnesses who were present…show hundreds of thousands of illegal ballots infected the election in Maricopa County.” pic.twitter.com/D4e4KAghRM
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) December 10, 2022
In addition, she argues that “thousands of Republican voters were disenfranchised as a result of Maricopa County election officials’ misconduct in connection with the widespread tabulator or printer failures at 59% of the 223 vote centers in Maricopa County.”
Just the News reported further:
Lake’s claims echo those of Arizona Republican Attorney General candidate Abe Hamadeh, who filed a separate challenge on similar grounds Friday afternoon. Hamadeh’s race was much closer, with his Democratic opponent leading by a mere 511 votes, the closest statewide race in Arizona history. A recount is in progress in that race.
The former conservative media personality has long asserted that the state’s election system is mired in voter fraud and that it had handed the 2020 presidential contest to President Joe Biden.
Lake believes her lawsuit will prevail and said she’s willing to “take it all the way to the Supreme Court” if necessary.
“We’re ready to go with what we believe to be an exceptional lawsuit. And we believe we will be victorious in that lawsuit,” Lake told Steve Bannon on the War Room podcast. “We’ll take it all the way to the Supreme Court if we have to. We will not stop fighting.”
Hobbs certified her own win over Lake on Monday with outgoing Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, Attorney General Mark Brnovich, and state Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Brutinel as witnesses, according to ABC News.
With the certification complete, Lake had five days to file legal challenges in court.
Today, we certified the election. pic.twitter.com/BD0SsKg5tB
— Doug Ducey (@DougDucey) December 5, 2022
“We’re ready to go with what we believe to be an exceptional lawsuit. And we believe we will be victorious in that lawsuit,” Lake told Real America’s Voice “War Room” host Steve Bannon.
“We’ll take it all the way to the Supreme Court if we have to. We will not stop fighting,” she continued.
Over the weekend, Lake’s campaign issued a blistering response after being rebuked by a federal judge appointed by then-President Barack Obama, who also imposed a fine after filing an election-related lawsuit.
U.S. District Judge John Tuchi of the District of Arizona rejected a Lake lawsuit earlier this year and then moved to fine her attorneys and those of Republican Secretary of State candidate Mark Finchem last week.
“Imposing sanctions, in this case, is not to ignore the importance of putting in place procedures to ensure that our elections are secure and reliable,” Tuchi wrote in his order. “It is to make clear that the Court will not condone litigants ignoring the steps that Arizona has already taken toward this end and furthering false narratives that baselessly undermine public trust at a time of increasing disinformation about, and distrust in, the democratic process.
“It is to send a message to those who might file similarly baseless suits in the future,” Tuchi’s order noted further.
That led to a fiery response from Lake’s legal team, which accused him of acting in a politically motivated manner while disputing his conclusions.
“This case is not about money or gain,” said Lake campaign spokesperson Ross Trumble in a statement to media outlets. “It was essentially a public interest lawsuit seeking electoral integrity.
“It is very, very rare to sanction a party in public interest suits. All in all, this reads like an angry Obama appointee who wants to send a message. The message is if you lose, shut up and don’t come to court. The message is not that you lost a case or acted in bad faith,” he added.
Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz was one of the attorneys who joined the Lake and Finchem legal team, telling Law & Crime last week that he did so in support of election integrity.
“I have not challenged the results of any Arizona elections. I have given legal advice about the future use of machine counting by companies that refuse to disclose the inner workings of their machines. I support transparency in elections,” he said.
