FILE - In this May 6, 2021 file photo, Maricopa County ballots cast in the 2020 general election are examined and recounted by contractors working for Florida-based company, Cyber Ninjas at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. A federal judge refused Friday, Aug. 26, 2022, to require that Arizona officials count ballots by hand in November, dismissing a lawsuit filed by the Republican nominees for governor and secretary of state based on false claims of problems with vote-counting machines. (AP Photo/Matt York, Pool)

PHOENIX – A federal judge refused Friday to require that Arizona officials count ballots by hand in November, dismissing a lawsuit filed by the Republican nominees for governor and secretary of state based on false claims of problems with vote-counting machines.

Kari Lake, who is running for governor, and Mark Finchem, a secretary of state candidate, won their GOP primaries after aggressively promoting the narrative that the 2020 election was marred by fraud or widespread irregularities.

Their lawsuit repeated unfounded allegations about the security of machines that count votes. They relied in part on testimony from Donald Trump supporters who led a discredited review of the election in Maricopa County, including Doug Logan, the CEO of Cyber Ninjas, who oversaw the effort described by supporters as a “forensic audit.”

U.S. District Judge John Tuchi ruled that Lake and Finchem lack standing to sue because they failed to show any realistic likelihood of harm...

Read Full Story: https://www.news4jax.com/news/politics/2022/08/26/judge-declines-to-require-h...