An Arizona trial court judge has again rejected Kari Lake’s claims that she lost the 2022 governor’s race because of misconduct by Maricopa County election officials (see story here).
The same judge previously ruled Lake failed to prove any of her original 10 grounds for overturning the election results.
The state supreme court ordered a new trial on a single issue, her assertion that Maricopa County failed to properly verify signatures on mail-in ballots.
Lake wasn’t expected to win the retrial. She had to provide “clear and convincing” evidence that improper procedures changed the election outcome, a hurdle that legal experts said would be very difficult to overcome.
Her lawyers, who aren’t experts in election law, argued the signature readers worked too fast. The judge rejected that argument, finding state law law didn’t require them to “spend any specific length of time on any particular signature,” and stating the court won’t rewrite laws.
Lake herself has demonstrated amazing ignorance of how the legal system works. As I wrote here, “Appellate courts don’t provide shoulders to cry on. What she really needs is a therapist.”
And she’s not the only one; her ally Mike Lindell, a prominent promoter of election conspiracy theories, called the judge in her case “compromised” because he followed the law (see story here). Criticizing the judge is what déclassé losers do.
She has used the lawsuits for fundraising purposes, variously blaming her loss on a CIA coup, asserting elections aren’t fair unless Republicans always win, and claiming the election was stolen because a UPS driver said so. Those pitches do bring in a lot of money, indicating as dumb as she is, her supporters are dumber.
Lake has been a major purveyor of the argument that Republicans are entitled to have “confidence” in elections. No such entitlement exists in law; elections are valid if conducted in compliance with election laws and rules, and mistakes or fraud didn’t change the results. If Republicans choose to distrust elections, that’s their prerogative, but that creates no right to a new election or different result.
Related story: Another Republican racking up court losses is ex-Rep. Devin Nunes; go here for the details of his latest legal defeat.