An Arizona judge on Saturday dismissed a lawsuit brought by Republican candidate Kari Lake, a former US president Donald Trump loyalist who sought to overturn her unsuccessful bid to become the southwestern state’s governor.
The court found no “clear and convincing evidence of misconduct” that would have influenced the outcome of last month’s election as Lake alleged, judge Peter Thompson said in his decision.
Lake, a 53-year-old former TV news anchorwoman, on Saturday wrote on Twitter that “for the sake of restoring faith and honesty in our elections, I will appeal his ruling.”
Photo: Reuters
After losing to Democrat Katie Hobbs by a margin of 17,117 votes, Lake claimed that problems with ballot printing in Maricopa County, Arizona’s most populous county which includes its capital, were intentional and aimed at her defeat.
The court cannot accept speculation or conjecture in lieu of clear and convincing evidence, said Thompson, who also upheld Hobbs’ victory.
Lake supporters had seized upon minor problems with vote tabulation machines in Maricopa, home to the US’ fifth-biggest city, Phoenix, which left some people standing in short lines during the election last month.
Officials said that no legitimate vote would be excluded, and mounted a well-organized social media campaign to push back at falsehoods circulating online.
Arizona has been under intense scrutiny for two years since US President Joe Biden eked out a narrow win in the state over Trump, who was president at the time.
Maricopa County became ground zero for election deniers, who made unfounded claims about ballot stuffing, despite repeated investigations that turned up no evidence of wrongdoing.
Lake made denial of the 2020 presidential election win by Biden a key tenet of her campaign, and said that she would not have validated his victory if she had been in the governor’s mansion at the time.
She was thought of as a leading light in the movement, and Republican Party insiders — as well as media pundits — have said that regardless of the Arizona result, she could be well placed for a spot on a future White House ticket.
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