Recently, A U.S. judge rejected Kari Lake’s request to examine the signed ballot envelopes of 1.5 million early voters. This is the third time the defeated Arizona Republican candidate has lost a trial related to the 2022 election.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge John Hannah Jr. filed an order last Thursday, November 30, arguing that releasing the signed ballot envelopes would compromise the ballot verification process in the forthcoming elections.
“The broad right of electoral participation outweighs the narrow interests of those who would continue to pick at the machinery of democracy,” Hannah wrote. So far, neither Kari Lake nor her attorney, Bryan Blehm, have responded to the trial’s outcome.
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The bench trial lasted for two days. For most of the trial, the court listened to testimony from Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer.
He is named as a defendant in the trial. According to him, the court rejected Lake’s initial request to see the envelopes because the state’s law protects the confidentiality of ballot envelope signatures.
Richer further explained that the court can’t release the signatures. “… we’ve said no to the plaintiff and others as well. It’s not discriminatory,” he told the county’s attorneys.
More so, Arizona State laws consider early voting ballots as affidavits for voters. It serves as a declaration that the county has registered them as voters who haven’t voted yet and won’t vote again.
So, Richer believes that releasing the signed ballot envelopes could have a negative effect and discourage voters from voting or signing their ballots.
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On the other hand, Lake’s attorney, Bryan Blehm, argued that the signed ballot envelopes are like other public documents with people’s signatures. However, the judge disagreed with his argument.
She compared Lake’s interest in looking at the envelopes to villagers trying to inspect a goose that laid golden eggs. Unfortunately, in Lake’s case, her goose didn’t lay the egg she expected.
“If only she could cut open the electoral process and examine each of its 1.3 million pieces, she says, she would be able to figure out what happened and show that the prize has been there waiting for her all along,” Hannah said. “Even if she doesn’t find what she’s looking for … the act of disassembly will strengthen everyone’s confidence that the machinery produces reliable outcomes.”
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Lake also challenged Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs’ victory at last year’s election. Gov. Hobbs won by over 11,000 votes. Lake lost both of her trials that challenged the election results.
In the second trial, Lake claimed that there was misconduct in the ballot signature verification in Maricopa County. 80% of the state’s eligible voters live in this area. The judge disagreed.
Lake has been one of the most vocal Republican candidates who supported former President Donald Trump’s thoughts on the last election.
Moreover, she made it her major topic for her campaign. Lake has expressed interest in running for the U.S. Senate, and many experts and analysts think she might be Trump’s running mate in 2024.
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