Kari Lake, the Republican gubernatorial candidate for Arizona governor, challenged the election results in Arizona that declared Democrat Katie Hobbs the winner of the race.
Lake argued that there was widespread, intentional misconduct on Election Day and pointed to problems with ballot printers in Maricopa County that allegedly caused delays and confusion at polling places.
However, the judge in the case ruled against Lake’s challenge and confirmed Hobbs as the Governor-elect.
The Republican hopeful’s attorneys focused on problems with ballot printers at some polling places in Maricopa County, which is home to more than 60% of voters in the state.
The defective printers produced ballots that were too light to be read by the on-site tabulators at polling places.
County officials stated that everyone had a chance to vote and that all ballots were counted, adding that ballots affected by printer issues were taken to more sophisticated counters at the elections department headquarters.
Lake’s attorneys also claimed that the chain of custody for ballots was broken at an off-site facility, where a contractor scans mail ballots to prepare them for processing.
The county disputed this claim. Lake had asked the judge to either declare her the winner or order a revote in Maricopa County.
However, the judge found that Lake did not provide sufficient evidence to support her allegations of misconduct and ruled in favor of Hobbs.
