OAN Roy Francis
UPDATED 3:20 PM PT – Monday, December 26, 2022
An Arizona judge has ruled against Republican Kari Lake in her challenge to the results of the November gubernatorial race.
Maricopa County Court Judge Peter Thompson found that the court was not able to find clear and convincing evidence of the widespread misconduct allegation that Lake claimed had skewed the election results in favor of her opponent, Katie Hobbs.
Lake’s lawsuit alleged that there were problems with ballot printers at some polling locations as well as intentional misconduct on Election Day which led to her losing the election.
The witnesses who were brought forth deemed to have no personal knowledge of any misconduct the court ruled.
“The court cannot accept speculation or conjecture in place of clear and convincing evidence,” Thompson said.
Judge Thompson recognized the “anger and frustration” of voters who were inconvenienced during the election but stated that disregarding the results of an election “has never been done in the history of the United States.”
Lake’s lawyers focused on problems with ballot printers in Maricopa County, which has more than 60% of Arizona’s voters, as well as claiming that the chain of custody for ballots was broken at an off-site facility where ballots are scanned and prepared for processing. The lawyers claimed that workers at the facility had put in their own mail ballots in instead and that the paperwork, which would document the transfer of the ballots, was missing.
Kari Lake is not giving up on the fight. In a tweet following the ruling, she said she will file an appeal.