Kari Lake, a Republican, has filed a challenge to the results of the Arizona governor race, and a court in Maricopa County, Arizona, has granted her requests to check some votes before the trial in this dispute. On Thursday, Judge Peter Thompson of the Maricopa County Superior Court delivered an order that allowed three of Lake’s four demands for checking random votes from the county.
There were a total of three different kinds of ballots that Thompson gave his approval for Lake’s team to investigate. These included 50 random “ballot-on-demand” printed ballots that were cast on Election Day, 50 random early ballots cast from “six separate Maricopa County batches,” and 50 random ballot-on-demand printed ballots that were marked as spoiled. Thompson gave his approval for Lake’s team to investigate all three kinds of ballots. According to the judge, Lake’s request to inspect fifty random early ballots taken from envelopes was denied since the state statute prohibits such an inspection.
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In Thompson’s order, Lake’s group was given the deadline of Friday, “December 15, 2022,” which appears to be an error in the date, at noon Mountain Standard Time (MST) to provide a ballot inspector. This individual will be able to inspect the ballots beginning at 8:00 a.m. MST on Tuesday, December 20.
In addition, the judge made it clear that the examination must to be carried out in a fashion that “does not interfere with any ongoing recount of the 2022 election results.”
On Twitter, the campaign for Senator Lake reacted positively to the decision, writing, “These ballots merit serious study and we are glad that we have been granted it.”
Last Monday, Lake challenged the results of the election, arguing that “if the procedure was fraudulent, then so are the outcomes.” She has not accepted defeat at the hands of her opponent in the campaign, Democrat Katie Hobbs, who was officially declared the winner of the race a week ago.
Hobbs became victorious in the contest for governor of the Grand Canyon State in 2022, edging out Lake by a margin of almost 17,000 votes, or little more than half a percentage point.
Our lawsuit isn't based on conspiracy or wild speculation.
We have laid out a very clear theory about statutory violations and a broken chain of custody.
These ballots deserve close scrutiny and we're delighted we have been granted it. https://t.co/Tk259zQDAU pic.twitter.com/Jw0OACzgvE
— Kari Lake War Room (@KariLakeWarRoom) December 16, 2022
