Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake appealed a Maricopa County judge’s decision Tuesday to dismiss her lawsuit, which challenged her defeat against Democratic Governor-elect Katie Hobbs.
Lake filed a notice of appeal in the Arizona Superior Court, which would contest two counts heard in court in a two-day trial last week and eight others initially dismissed by Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson. The dismissal of two counts was related to allegations of intentional misconduct from malfunctioning ballot printers and a failure to follow ballot chain-of-custody procedures.
The Hill reported Lake’s filing said she would “seek direct review by the Arizona Supreme Court.”
Lake told former president Donald Trump’s adviser Steve Bannon on his “War Room” show that she plans to file her appeal this week.
“I am standing up for the people of this state, the people who were done wrong on Election Day, and the millions of people who live outside of Maricopa County, whose vote was watered down by this bogus election in Maricopa County,” Lake said in an appearance on Stephen Bannon’s “War Room” podcast.
.@KariLake: "I am standing up for the people of this state. The people who were done wrong on Election Day and the millions of people who live outside of Maricopa County, whose vote was watered down by this bogus election in Maricopa County." pic.twitter.com/sFHQCx9f9Y
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) December 27, 2022
Maricopa County, which includes the capital of Phoenix and is Arizona’s most populous county, had notable problems during the November 8 election, including printer and tabulation machine-related issues in at least 70 of the county’s 223 polling locations.
Lake claims there were tabulator breakdowns at over 59% of the voting centers within the county on Election Day.
Lake’s suit claimed thousands of Republican voters were disenfranchised, arguing “hundreds of thousands of illegal ballots infected the election in Maricopa County.”
However, the results showed that Lake lost the contest by roughly 17,000 votes despite her allegations.
Lake, a former journalist who prioritized election integrity as a candidate, filed her appeal after a judge issued a ruling earlier on Tuesday to deny sanctions against her brought by Hobbs for seeking to overturn the results of last month’s governor’s race.
Hobbs and Maricopa County filed motions on Monday for sanctions against Lake and her attorneys, which may amount to nearly $700,000 in penalties to cover the attorneys’ fees and costs, according to an estimate from the AZ Law blog.
Most of that money could go to Marc Elias, who is well known as the lawyer who directed funding from Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and Democratic National Committee that went toward British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s now-discredited anti-Trump dossier.
The judge explained that his dismissal of Lake’s case does not equate to determining that Lake’s claims were “groundless and presented in bad faith.”
“Any legal decision must be based on the law and facts rather than subjective beliefs or partisan opinions, no matter how strongly held,” he added.
Hobbs, who is currently Arizona’s secretary of state, is set to be inaugurated as governor on January 5.
Daniel Chaitin contributed to this report.