As the deadline to file a complaint or legal challenge against Maricopa County for its botched 2022 general election approaches, an attorney for failed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has finally received the public records they had been fighting to receive from the County.
In return for the cancellation of a hearing set for Wednesday afternoon, attorney Tim LaSota received the County’s records and the Lake campaign has begun to review them.
According to the Yellow Sheet, the records turned over include:
“… several lists of voters who were likely affected by Election Day equipment problems in Maricopa County. One list shows all voters who cast a ballot on Election Day, but also submitted a mail-in ballot on Election Day that ultimately wasn’t counted. Another file turned over to LaSota contains the county’s entire Cast Vote Record – a document that should reflect all ballots cast and candidate selections made by voters. The documents answer a few questions about “Door 3” and what happened to ballots that couldn’t be read by tabulators on Election Day. For instance, the county’s response to one of LaSota’s requests indicated that 206 voters checked in at two different voting centers on election day. Of those, 84 had been checked out of the first voting center, so they cast a regular ballot at the second location. The other 122 hadn’t been checked out of the first voting center, so they cast provisional ballots at the second. (The county’s response didn’t make clear how many of those provisional ballots were counted.)
Another response stated that 130 ballots deposited in Door 3 weren’t counted. “Most of those were provisional ballots that voters inserted into Door 3 but did not place in affidavit envelopes. Some are early ballots that voters inserted into Door 3,” an attorney for the county wrote.
Lake said in a tweet on Wednesday, “We just had an election here Nov. 8th which was run like they run elections in banana republics. And this is why I’m going to be contesting the election later this week.”
.@KariLake: “We just had an election here Nov. 8th which was run like they run elections in banana republics. And this is why I’m going to be contesting the election later this week.” pic.twitter.com/qoQPeOjKk6
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) December 7, 2022
69% of Democrats agree Arizona voters were denied their sacred Right to Vote on 11/8.
But this isn't just about Republicans & Democrats—it’s about everyone’s Right to Vote on Election Day—a right many were deprived.
My challenge to these wrongdoings begins Friday.
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) December 8, 2022
Currently, automatic recounts are taking place in the Attorney General’s race, Superintendent of Public Instruction race, and the Legislative District 13 (LD13) House race. Arizona law was recently changed, requiring automatic recounts if a candidate wins by a margin that is less than or equal to 0.5% of total votes cast.
Democrat Kris Mayes leads Republican Abe Hamadeh in the Attorney General’s race by 510 votes.
Lake easily fell outside of the margin needed for a recount yet has consistently blamed fraud for her defeat. The Election Day errors across Maricopa County have helped to create doubt in the minds of many voters.
Hamadeh, who is an attorney, joined the Republican National Committee in a lawsuit over the handling of the 2022 General Election. But that suit was kicked out by the courts because it was filed prior to the official certification of the election. With the election now certified, Hamadeh and the RNC are free to refile it, but have not yet done so.
Hamadeh’s lawsuit is clear that it does not allege “any fraud, manipulation or other intentional wrongdoing that would impugn the outcomes of the November 8, 2022 General Election.” It does however claim that election was rife with “gross incompetence and mismanagement.”
“The election was, however, afflicted with certain errors and inaccuracies in the management of some polling place operations, and in the processing and tabulation of some ballots. The cumulative effect of these mistakes is material to the race for Arizona Attorney General, where the candidates are separated by just 510 votes out of more than 2.5 million ballots cast-a margin of two one-hundredths of one percent (0.02%),” argue Hamadeh’s attorneys.