A judge on Monday dismissed most of a lawsuit filed by Kari Lake, the GOP candidate who lost Arizona’s governor race in November, but allowed her to go to trial with a pair of claims challenging Democratic Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs’ victory.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson ruled that Lake can go to trial Wednesday and Thursday with two of her 10 claims, which allege misconduct with ballot printers and problems with ballot chain of custody. Thompson did not take a position on the validity of the two claims, but said Lake should be allowed to present her case.
The other eight claims — which include allegations that some mail-in ballots with mismatched signatures were counted and that a “censorship” effort by Hobbs and Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer cost her votes — were dismissed.
The lawsuit by Lake, a prominent election denier and Trump ally, claims she “received the greatest number of votes and is entitled to be named the winner” days after certified results showed she had lost. Lake asked a court to toss Maricopa County’s results to declare her the winner or hold another vote in the county.
In a two-day hearing set for Wednesday and Thursday, Lake will try to prove her allegations that printers were intentionally allowed to malfunction on Election Day to affect the election outcome and that a county contractor improperly added ballots.
“Buckle up, America. This is far from over,” Lake tweeted after the ruling.
In his decision, the judge dismissed eight of Lake’s claims, including Lake’s allegation that Hobbs and Richer attempted to censor her by flagging her social media posts containing baseless election claims for removal.
Lake is a prominent booster of Trump’s false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 election. She has not conceded the gubernatorial race against Hobbs.
Associated Press contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
