An Arizona county judge has again affirmed that Gov. Katie Hobbs won November’s gubernatorial race, thwarting Republican Kari Lake’s last legal claim challenging the election.
Hobbs, a Democrat, beat Lake by 17,117 votes but the former TV anchor and election denier has since been litigating the results on accusations that they were tainted by misconduct.
Of her initial 10 claims, eight were dismissed, leaving her only two to be tested in court — that an official interfered with ballot printers, which led to tabulators rejecting misprinted ballots that cost her votes; and that illegal votes were counted due to the handling of early ballots submitted on election day.
On Christmas Eve, a lower court ruled against her, stating she failed to prove any of her claims.
In February, an Arizona Court of Appeals rejected her challenge to the lower court’s decision, and in March, the Arizona Supreme Court denied a review of six of her seven claims, but sent the last allegation of misconduct concerning a failure to verify signatures on early ballots back to the county court.
On Monday night, following three days of hearings that ended Friday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson ruled against Lake, saying the evidence does not support her case.