Judge gives Kari Lake a chance to prove voter fraud in Arizona

The county Superior Court has accepted two of the 10 charges filed by the Republican candidate for governor of Arizona.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson has accepted two of the 10 counts filed by Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake challenging the midterm election results.

Lake requested that the results be overturned on the grounds that election officials allegedly committed misconduct and tabulated hundreds of thousands of illegal ballots. The two charges which are being brought to trial are for alleged intentional interference by election officials with ballot printers in Maricopa County and violations of the chain of custody of ballot boxes. This process ensures that the votes cast are properly processed and counted.

Lake must prove her allegations

"Plaintiff must show at trial that the [Election Day] printer malfunctions were intentional, and directed to affect the results of the election, and that such actions did actually affect the outcome," Judge Thompson said. For the other charge, Lake contends that more than 300,000 ballots from Maricopa County did not have proper chain-of-custody documentation.

Judge Thompson dismissed the other eight charges, considering that they did not meet the proper criteria for filing an election appeal. The charges were for violation of free speech, invalid signatures on absentee ballots, equal protection, due process, secrecy clause, improper certification, inadequate remedy and constitutional rights.

Hobbs asked for complete dismissal

Arizona Governor-elect Katie Hobbs asked the judge to dismiss all charges filed by her former opponent. Alexis Danneman, Hobbs' attorney, believes Lake's lawsuit will not go forward:

If there’s anything rotten in Arizona, it is what this contest represents. For the past several years, our democracy and its basic guiding principles have been under sustained assault from candidates who just cannot or will not accept the fact that they lost. The judiciary has served as a bulwark against these efforts to undo our democratic system from within.