Arizona's Democratic governor-elect Katie Hobbs and officials in the state's largest county asked a court to sanction defeated Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake over her "unfounded attacks" against election officials.
Maricopa County Judge Peter Thompson on Saturday rejected Lake's lawsuit that challenged the counting and certification of the November election in which Lake lost by roughly 17,000 votes. Lake had asked the court to throw out the election results and declare her the winner.
Out of 10 different claims about the election made by Lake's campaign, only two actually made it to trial after a judge dismissed the rest. But Lake failed to offer any evidence to back her claims of widespread, intentional misconduct on Election Day in a two-day trial aimed at challenging her defeat by Hobbs.
Lake also did not successfully prove her claim that printer problems at a number Maricopa County polling places were intentional acts that likely affected the race's outcome, according to Abha Khanna, a lawyer representing Hobbs.
Judge Thompson ruled against Lake's suit, saying that the former news anchor had failed to provide "clear and convincing" evidence of intentional misconduct by election officials.
Hobbs has now joined a motion by Maricopa County officials asking for sanctions against Lake and her attorneys. The county's deputy attorney, Thomas Liddy, wrote that Lake filed a "groundless" lawsuit for a "frivolous pursuit," according to court documents.
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