Both the Abe Hamadeh and Kari Lake campaigns filed lawsuits on Friday, challenging the results of the 2022 election.
Hamadeh, the GOP candidate in the Arizona’s Attorney General’s race, was joined by the Republican National Committee in his lawsuit filed Friday morning.
Lake, the GOP gubernatorial candidate represented by the Cyber Ninjas’ lawyer Brian Blehm, is the lone plaintiff in her lawsuit filed moments before the deadline to file a challenge to the election.
The Arizona’s Attorney General’s race is currently undergoing an automatic recount due to the fact that there is a little over 500 votes separating Hamadeh from Democrat candidate Kris Mayes.
“Today my campaign along with the Republican National Committee has filed an election contest lawsuit. At 511 votes out of 2.5 million our race is the closest statewide race in Arizona history, it is currently undergoing a recount. Every legal vote deserves to be counted. Maricopa County faced unprecedented and unacceptable issues on Election Day. Arizonans deserved better. When I announced my campaign in November 2021, I was dismissed as having no chance by the media, the fundraisers, and the political class. But I campaigned hard. I traveled our beautiful state and gained the trust and support of the people to win the Republican nomination. I’m not desperate to be a politician. I’m desperately worried about our country. Right now confidence in our elections are at an all time low due to the hubris and incompetence of election officials to not take legitimate election issues seriously. I jumped in this race because I know how important the rule of law is for a civilized society. I urge all Arizonans to have patience during this time. Laws exist in order to provide justice and the courts are the guardians of justice. If we lose hope in our system we will no longer be that shining city upon a hill. I am fighting this fight to win and to make sure we regain confidence in our elections now and forever. Arizona, I will never stop fighting for you,” tweeted Hamadeh.
Today my campaign along with the Republican National Committee (@GOP) has filed an election contest lawsuit.
At 511 votes out of 2.5 million our race is the closest statewide race in Arizona history, it is currently undergoing a recount. Every legal vote deserves to be counted.
— Abe Hamadeh (@AbrahamHamadeh) December 9, 2022
As with his original lawsuit, Hamadeh does not allege “any fraud, manipulation or other intentional wrongdoing that would impugn the outcomes of the November 8, 2022, general election. Plaintiffs bring this lawsuit to ensure that all lawfully cast votes are properly counted and that unlawfully cast votes are not counted.”
As Hamadeh notes in his lawsuit, Arizona’s 2022 election was impacted by “errors and inaccuracies” in the management of some polling places, as well as the tabulation of some ballots.
“The cumulative effect of these mistakes is material to the race for Arizona Attorney General, where after the first canvass the candidates are separated by just 511 votes out of more than 2.5 million ballots cast—a margin of two one-hundredths of one percent (0.02%),” argued Hamadeh’s attorneys.
Due to mismanagement, over 20% of Maricopa County’s polling sites experienced issues with tabulation, disenfranchising Election Day voters, which were mostly Republican voters.
For her part, Lake says the 2022 Arizona election was “run like they run elections in a banana republic. And the people running it, their number one goal was to make sure that I didn’t get elected…”
Lake, who lost outside the margin for an automatic recount, claims the election was a “sham.”
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