An Arizona judge on Saturday ruled against the Kari Lake lawsuit. The Republican gubernatorial candidate alleged intentional voter misconduct in a process in which Democrat Katie Hobbs was declared the winner by about half a percentage point.
According to the court, there was no clear or convincing evidence that the results of the 2022 general election were affected by intentional misconduct.
"Speculation or conjecture"
"The Court cannot accept speculation or conjecture," said Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson.
Thompson explained that so far in the country's history "never" have the results of an election been set aside and while he credited key witnesses Mark Sonnenklar and Heather Honey, he said it could not be attributed as intentional misconduct.
"The Court credits the personal observations of Mr. Sonnenklar and does not doubt his knowledge or his veracity," he said in the ruling.
Lake will appeal
After the ruling, the Republican candidate assured that she will file an appeal because of all the evidence provided that would prove that the elections "are run outside of the law.”
"We provided expert testimony. We provided experts. The other side brought in activists to try to save face. They admitted that they’ve known about these ballot problems," he said.
BREAKING: Pollster Rich Baris testified in Kari Lake’s trial that voter disenfranchisement was so bad in Maricopa County that Lake would have won if the tabulator issues had not taken place.
Should the Arizona election be redone?
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 22, 2022
Lake insisted that it is necessary to have fair and transparent elections and assured that they will be obtained.
"This Judge did not rule in our favor. However, for the sake of restoring faith and honesty in our elections, I will appeal his ruling," she said.
The results show that Lake lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs by about 17,000 votes. However, the Republican claims that the vote was deliberately manipulated through an alleged inference by the ballot printers, which would have caused enough votes to be lost to change the outcome.
