Republican Kari Lake’s campaign for governor of Arizona has filed a lawsuit against Maricopa County and its elected officials, demanding that they respond to the campaign’s demands for public information alleging errors on Election Day before the county verifies its vote canvass on Monday.
The case is the first post-election day lawsuit filed by the Lake campaign. Maricopa County, which encompasses the Phoenix area and contains approximately 60% of Arizona’s population, has emerged as the focal point of election issues this year.
Election authorities from the county agree that there were printer issues at several polling places on election day. However, they maintain that voters still had several options for casting a ballot.
The lawsuit asks a state judge to require officials to release the records before the certification meeting on Monday. Lake’s campaign filed two public records requests with the county last week to obtain additional information about the difficulties and the number of affected voters.
According to the circumstances, “this deadline (or its significant equivalent) is necessary to ensure that crucial public records are swiftly provided, and that evident inadequacy can be addressed before canvassing the 2022 general election,” according to the lawsuit.
Must Check:
Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, has been proclaimed the winner of the gubernatorial election and leads Lake, who has refused to accept, by around 17,000 votes as of last week.
The man in charge of Maricopa Co’s disastrous elections is Stephen Richer.
He ran an anti-Kari Lake PAC.
AZ Sun Times: ALL expenditures from Richer’s PAC were spent telling Arizonans NOT to vote for Lake.
Please Tell @GeneralBrnovich to investigate.
https://t.co/Nu9hiJVpTb— Kari Lake (@KariLake) November 24, 2022
Since the election, Lake and other GOP candidates have attacked Maricopa officials, branding them “incompetent” and asserting that the errors lead to voter disenfranchisement. Lake, a well-known supporter of former President Trump’s unfounded allegations of 2020 election fraud, repeatedly declined to state if she would accept the election results if she lost on Election Day.
Recent accusations primarily target Maricopa ballot printers who used ink too light for tabulators to read. Election officials say that voters may stay in line until the problem is resolved, vote at another polling place, or place their ballot in a box known as “door 3” for later tabulation.
According to Lake’s campaign, incorrect checkout procedures and ballot commingling will prevent some impacted voters’ votes from being counted. Due to the problems, the Lake campaign and a Republican coalition petitioned a state judge to extend voting in the county on election day. However, the judge dismissed their request, stating that he had not seen any proof that anyone had been denied the chance to cast a ballot.
Based on statements from voters and poll workers, Lake’s new lawsuit asserts, among other things, that 118 of the county’s 223 vote centres were impacted by the printer issue, a higher number than the county’s suggested 70 affected locations. Although the lawsuit did not require Maricopa’s certification to be delayed, Lake’s attorneys contended that voter reports the campaign received fit the requirements for doing so.
The county has promised to respond to a separate request from Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) demanding information about the issues before the meeting. The county is scheduled to certify the election on Monday, the state’s deadline for counties to do so unless it finds “missing” ballot returns.
In advance of an anticipated recount, the Republican nominee to succeed Brnovich, who leads his Democratic opponent by 510 votes out of more than 2.5 million ballots cast, officially challenged his election result on Tuesday.