A judge on Monday dismissed most of a lawsuit filed by Kari Lake, the GOP candidate who lost Arizona’s governor race in November, but allowed her to go to trial with a pair of claims challenging Democratic Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs’ victory.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson ruled that Lake can go to trial Wednesday and Thursday with two of her 10 claims, which allege misconduct with ballot printers and problems with ballot chain of custody. Thompson did not take a position on the validity of the two claims in saying Lake should be allowed to present her case.
Thompson dismissed the eight other claims, which included allegations that some mail-in ballots with mismatched signatures were counted and that a “censorship” effort by Hobbs and Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer cost her votes.
Lake, a prominent election denier and Trump ally, claims in the suit that she “received the greatest number of votes and is entitled to be named the winner” days after certified results showed she had lost. Lake asked a court to toss out Maricopa County's results to declare her the winner or hold another vote in the county.
In a two-day hearing set for Wednesday and Thursday, Lake will try to prove her allegations that printers were intentionally allowed to malfunction on Election Day to affect the outcome and that a county contractor improperly added ballots.
“Buckle up, America. This is far from over,” Lake tweeted after the ruling.
The judge dismissed eight of Lake’s claims, including her allegation that Hobbs and Richer tried to censor her by flagging her social media posts containing baseless election claims for removal.
Lake is a prominent booster of former President Donald Trump’s false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. She has not conceded the gubernatorial race against Hobbs.
