After learning that the Maricopa justice accepted two of the charges filed by Kari Lake against the alleged electoral fraud, Arizona will witness another trial related to the midterm results. Mohave County Superior Court Judge Lee F. Jantzen allowed several of the claims of Republican Apache State Attorney General candidate Abe Hamadeh to go to trial.
Hamadeh lost his election race to the Democratic candidate, Kris Mayes, by 511 votes. The Republican candidate claimed that election machine malfunctions affected the results and filed the complaint against Mayes, Katie Hobbs in her official capacity as Secretary of State and to every Board of Supervisors and the recorder of every county in Arizona.
In his ruling, Judge Jantzen denied Mayes' motion to dismiss the case, noting that the plaintiff is not alleging political motives or election fraud, but rather official misconduct:
This case is different from those cases because the Plaintiff is not alleging political motives or fraud or personal agendas being pushed. tis simply alleging misconduct by mistake, or omission by election officials, led to erroneous count of votes and which if true could have led to an uncertain result.
No bribes, no rewards
According to Judge Jantzen, Hamadeh also makes no reference in his lawsuit to bribes or kickbacks:
Plaintiffs do not allege in this election contest that any candidate is ineligible or that any bribes or rewards were offered for procuring this election. In fact, Plaintiffs makes it very clear in every pleading in this case that they are not alleging fraudulent behavior by the election officials. The issues then become whether misconduct by election boards or others working on the election took place and if there are any “illegal” Votes that would result in a change in the outcome of the election.
The Republican candidate challenged the results before the vote count was completed, but a judge initially dismissed it because Arizona law requires that an election be certified or a winner declared before any claims can be filed. Now, with the results being official, the court can accept his challenge.
