According to CBS News, Ms. Lake lost by around 17,000 votes to Katie Hobbs, the secretary of state, but sued Maricopa County and Ms. Hobbs to overturn the results under Arizona’s election contest statutes. A Maricopa County Superior Court judge is allowing two of her claims of misconduct by election officials to go forward, but eight other claims were dismissed. A ruling is likely soon afterward.
Since November 17, Ms. Lake avoided admitting her defeat and indicated she was gathering a legal team to collect data related to the electoral process.
Former President Donald Trump, who in the 2020 elections fueled theories of fraud that were later dismissed, took things a bit further by claiming, without evidence, that officials deliberately “took the election away” from Lake.
For Hobbs’ attorneys, the trial will be a show and an opportunity for Lake to spread her “outlandish” assumptions, and urged dismissal of the case. “The court is not a theater,” attorneys said.
Arizona became the epicenter of GOP efforts to challenge midterm election results, using voters´ alleged disenfranchisement allegations to do so.
One battle took place in Maricopa, where officials acknowledged that printers at 70 of the county’s 223 polling stations on Election Day used too light ink, making it difficult for voting machines to work.
Officials insisted that everyone had a chance to cast their ballots, as those affected had multiple options, such as waiting until the problem was fixed or depositing ballots in separate ballot box for further processing.
However, Lake, also dubbed as “Trump-in-a-dress woman,” is asking judge to declare her winner or to order a new ballot in Maricopa, where over 60% of voters reside.
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