Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake‘s election lawsuit is moving forward, but there's a catch.
Lake is currently challenging Governor-elect Katie Hobbs‘ (D) election-certified victory based on 10 counts. The lawsuit alleges election officials in Maricopa County, which comprises most of the state's population, allegedly committed misconduct and tabulated hundreds of thousands of illegal ballots.
However, on Monday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson dismissed 8 of the 10 counts. In the ruling Judge Thompson noted that the counts, even if true, do not merit fourth consideration because they did not fall under the proper criteria to bring election challenges under Arizona law.
Despite the slight setback, Lake is pressing forward with the remaining two charges: alleged intentional interference by election officials affecting Maricopa County ballot printers and chain of custody violations.
“Plaintiff must show at trial that the [Election Day] printer malfunctions were intentional, and directed to affect the results of the election, and that such actions did actually affect the outcome,” the judge said of the first remaining count in Monday's order.
For the other remaining count, Lake claims that more than 300,000 Maricopa County ballots did not have proper chain of custody paperwork.
The county disputes that claim, arguing that Lake does not understand the various forms of paperwork and indicating Maricopa has all necessary documentation on file.
On Monday, Lake praised the move as a win on Twitter.
“BREAKING: Our Election Case is going to trial. Katie Hobbs attempt to have our case thrown out FAILED. She will have to take the stand & testify. Buckle up, America. This is far from over.” Lake tweeted.
Maricopa County and Hobbs had asked the judge to dismiss all 10 counts.
Hobbs and the county argued that many of the Republican candidate's allegations were based on procedures put in place well before last month's election, saying those claims had to be brought before Election Day.
“If there's anything rotten in Arizona, it is what this contest represents,” an attorney for Hobbs said at the hearing, according to The Hill. “For the past several years, our democracy and its basic guiding principles have been under sustained assault from candidates who just cannot or will not accept the fact that they lost. The judiciary has served as a bulwark against these efforts to undo our democratic system from within.”
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