Former GOP candidate for governor Kari Lake's appeal of her failed election challenge will move from a Phoenix court to Tucson as part of a relatively new effort to balance caseloads between the state's two appeals divisions.

Lake, the former television news anchor and Trump ally, has continued contesting her 17,117-vote loss in November to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs. In two trials and a prior appeal up to the Arizona Supreme Court, Lake has not proven she won the race, and each of those courts have affirmed Hobbs' victory.

Here's what's next for Lake's case, and why it will move forward in Pima County and not in Maricopa County.

2022 law lets court decide 'best use of judicial resources'

In June 2022, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law House Bill 2859, which added three judges to each of the state's two appeals courts. One court with nine judges is in Tucson, and it handles cases from seven southern Arizona counties. One with 19 judges is in Phoenix, and handles cases from Arizona's eight northern counties, including Maricopa County, the most populous.

As a swan song to his eight years in governor, Ducey appointed judges — who can serve for decades — to those newly created jobs on the bench.

But the bill that allowed him to do so had numerous other provisions, including letting court staff move cases between the two courts to "equalize caseloads and for the best use of judicial resources."

How the court implemented the law

An initial agreement between the two...

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