Kari Lake files lawsuit in bid to overturn Arizona election

Kari Lake, the GOP candidate who lost Arizona’s governor race in November, filed a lawsuit Friday challenging certification of the state’s election results and seeking a court order that declares her the winner.

The 70-page lawsuit from Lake, a prominent election denier and Trump ally, contains numerous inaccuracies about the election won by Democratic Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs, Arizona’s secretary of state.

The suit names Hobbs and Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer as defendants, along with other election officials in Maricopa, claiming their alleged misconduct “nullifies” the results of the election in the state’s most populous county and that their actions “wrongfully” led to the state naming Hobbs as the winner.

“Lake received the greatest number of votes and is entitled to be named the winner,” the lawsuit states. “Alternately, the election must be re-done in Maricopa County to eliminate the effects of maladminstration and illegal votes on the vote tallies reported by Maricopa County.”

The suit claims that ballot printer and tabulator failures, which Lake said were intentional, “created chaos” on Election Day with “oppressively long lines” that depressed voter turnout and disproportionately deterred Republican voters who were more likely to cast a ballot in her favor.

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Maricopa County issued a report on the voting glitches late last month after the state’s Republican attorney general’s office demanded answers on widespread voting machine glitches. Election officials had urged voters at polling sites where machines malfunctioned to exercise other options, including either dropping their ballots in a secure box to be counted later in the day or going to another location to vote.

Lake’s lawsuit seeks a series of court orders, including “setting aside the certified result of the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election and declaring that Kari Lake is the winner of the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election.”

Arizona certified its election results on Monday.

In a statement Friday, Hobbs’ campaign manager blasted Lake’s filing of a “sham lawsuit.”

“Kari Lake needs attention like a fish needs water — and independent experts and local election officials of both parities have made clear that this was a sage, secure, and fair election,” Hobbs’ campaign manager said.

“Arizonans made their voices heart and elected Katie Hobbs as their governor. No nuisance lawsuit will change that, and we remain laser-focused on getting ready to hit the ground running on Say One of Katie Hobbs’ administration next year.”