A legal challenge filed more than one month after the 2020 General Election was dismissed Tuesday morning by a Pinal County judge who found multiple fatal flaws in the case.
Judge Kevin White ruled that among the flaws in Staci Burk’s Dec. 7 lawsuit was the fact the Pinal County woman waited too long after the Nov. 3 election to file a challenge, failed to initiate an election contest within five days of the Nov. 30 canvassing of the statewide voting results, and did not name “indispensable parties” as defendants.
The judge called the delays “unreasonable and highly prejudicial” to Gov. Doug Ducey and Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, the only defendants in the civil action which sought to decertify Arizona’s election results and block the awarding of the state’s 11 electoral votes to former Vice President Joe Biden. Motions to dismiss had been filed by attorneys for both Ducey and Hobbs.
White also ruled that even if Burk’s case had not been technically flawed, he still would have dismissed the case because Burk admitted not voting in the last election. In fact, the judge was presented evidence that Burk was not even registered to vote, meaning she did not have standing to bring any challenge, White ruled.
Burk told the judge Monday that she tried to register but was prevented from doing so by government officials. There may have been a problem with the fact Burk participates in Arizona’s Address Confidentiality Program (ACP) administered by Hobbs’ office.
ACP allows some crime victims to utilize a substitute address and mail forwarding in lieu of disclosing a home, work, or school address.
The result of White’s order is that an evidentiary hearing scheduled for Thursday has been vacated. It was to be that hearing, Burk said, that she would provide testimony and exhibits showing a “widespread scheme” she says was set in motion for the purpose of “illegally and fraudulently manipulating the vote count” in favor of Biden.
Many of the allegations contained in Burk’s complaint mirror those in several election lawsuits filed in Maricopa County and U.S. District Court. But one new allegation was Burk’s claim that she possessed an audio recording of a Pinal County man who allegedly professed to a scheme “to remove ballots from a plane at Sky Harbor Airport and transport those ballots to the election tabulation center” where they were to be cast for Biden.
Burk also posted to social media that her safety had been threatened last month by someone who suggested she could be the victim of a staged car accident or suicide, or even arrested on false charges. She later posted that she has had a security team “mobilized by (former National Security Advisor) General Mike Flynn at my house since that time.”
The judge noted that his Dec. 15 ruling was being entered as final judgment “as to all claims and parties.” He also noted the only pending matters that may come before the court would be a request from either of the defendants “for costs or Motion for attorney’s fees.”
