Arizona Supreme Court Rejects Kari Lake’s Seventh Bid to Overturn 2022 Election Results
On Thursday, the Arizona Supreme Court rejected election denier and erstwhile gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake a request for a do-over of the 2022 election — marking the seventh, and final, time that her attempt to overturn the election results has been denied.
In July, Lake asked Arizona’s highest court to weigh in on her accusations that Maricopa County did not properly conduct the 2022 midterm election, wherein she lost the gubernatorial race to Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) by more than 17,000 votes. In her petition to the Arizona Supreme Court, Lake argued that the election was “irredeemably flawed” and asked the court to declare her the rightful winner. Since her loss to Hobbs, Lake has repeatedly claimed that the election was stolen — even writing in her memoir that she is “the lawful governor of Arizona.”
Her petition came on the heels of a ruling by the Arizona Court of Appeals in June, which affirmed a trial court’s decision that there was no voter misconduct in the 2022 midterm election and Hobbs was rightfully declared the winner of the race.
Since her 2022 election loss, Lake launched a campaign for the U.S. Senate, which as of Friday, she’s trailing behind the Democratic nominee, Rep. Ruben Gallego, by about 50,000 votes, according to AZ Central. Despite her long history of contesting election results, Lake went on record to say that, no matter the outcome of her Senate race, she will accept the results of the election.
In addition to Lake, the Arizona Supreme Court also rejected a petition from former state Rep. Mark Finchem (R), who similarly challenged his 2022 Secretary of State loss to Adrian Fontes (D) on false claims of voter fraud, to avoid paying legal fees for his numerous appeals.
Learn more about the case here.
Previous post, July 12:
Election-denier Kari Lake is back in court. This time, the Republican U.S. Senate hopeful is once again asking the Arizona Supreme Court for a do-over of her 2022 race.
In her new request, Lake argues that the “2022 election was irredeemably flawed.” The filing asks the court to either set aside the results of the 2022 election, which Lake lost by over 17,000 votes to Gov. Katie Hobbs, or cancel the votes of over 270,000 individuals so Lake can be declared the winner.
Hobbs has been the governor of Arizona for 557 days. Lake has been challenging the results of the 2022 gubernatorial race since December 2022.
Original post, June 12
An Arizona appellate court has once again rejected election denier and U.S. Senate hopeful Kari Lake’s 2022 election contest. Lake will not get a do-over of the 2022 election, which she has repeatedly asked for.
For those keeping score at home, yesterday’s decision marks the sixth time Lake’s contest has been rejected by an Arizona court.
The appellate court found that even if some of Lake’s arguments did prevail, “it would have been insufficient to overcome” the over 17,000 vote differential Lake lost by. In regards to Lake’s claim that signatures were not properly verified, the court of appeals found that the trial court was correct to conclude that Maricopa County workers complied with the state’s signature matching requirement. “We affirm the judgment of the trial court,” the unanimous ruling reads.
The Arizona Court of Appeals decision concludes Lake’s 551 day quest to overturn the results of the 2022 election in the Grand Canyon state. This loss for Lake comes after she not only lost her election for Arizona governor by over 17,000 votes, but also consistently lost at three separate court levels in the 19 months since Election Day.
In December 2022, the trial court dismissed eight of Lake’s 10 claims and then, after trial, dismissed the remaining claims, thereby ending the contest. The Arizona Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s dismissal and the Arizona Supreme Court denied review of six of the seven claims in Lake’s appeal. Following this ruling, the state Supreme Court sent one claim back to the trial court for further review, which was the subject of a new trial that took place in 2023.
At her second trial, Lake’s arguments were as deeply flawed and unserious as during her first trial. Her star witnesses — or as Lake calls them, “whistleblowers” — included members of a fringe political action group partially funded by conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell and a person who conducted signature verification during the 2022 midterm elections, the very process Lake had to prove did not occur. Ultimately, the court rejected Lake’s remaining claim. Lake appealed to the Arizona Court of Appeals which issued its decision today.
Along the way, the Arizona Supreme Court sanctioned both her attorneys and Lake herself for making false statements to the court and just last week, an Arizona Supreme Court panel suspended one of Lake’s attorneys from practicing law for 60 days, effective July 7. In April, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up Lake’s separate conspiracy-based venture — a Mike Lindell backed lawsuit challenging the use of voting machines in the state — which Lake was also sanctioned for.
After the dismissal of Lake’s case, only one of Arizona’s 2022 post-election cases is now outstanding, according to Democracy Docket’s database.