The judge presiding over Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake's electoral lawsuit has reportedly ordered Lake, Governor-elect Katie Hobbs (who's currently Arizona's secretary of state), and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to appear before the court.
On Tuesday, Judge Peter Thompson, wrote that the court has "reviewed" Lake's "verified statement of election contest" and pledged the "matter will be set on an accelerated basis."
Per Thompson's order, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer and Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates will appear in court.
Lake's lawsuit might have garnered more steam in the last week, after whistleblower claims against electoral officials in Arizona became publicized.
"We've had three whistleblowers from Maricopa County reach out and say the system is seriously flawed," Lake reportedly stated Monday.
"[County officials] were throwing out tens of thousands of signatures saying they were scribbles that in no way matched. But somewhere between there, the ballots were being completely tossed out, and they got looped back into the system and counted as if they were fine," alleged Lake.
Also, the Republican Lake estimated that 25,000 "additional ballots and early voting ballots were discovered two days after Election Day," while adding these ballots "just showed up."
Lake continued: "[These allegations show] the whole system has serious problems.
"We believe that up to 135,000 ballots were pushed through that should not have been pushed through," said Lake. "We're asking a judge to let us take a look at all of the envelopes and compare signatures, so that we can find out for sure how many bad, fraudulent ballots got through in that way, of basically cheating or breaking the rules."
In her Dec. 9 lawsuit, Lake maintains she should be the declared winner of Arizona's gubernatorial race, or that a new voting cycle should take place in Maricopa County — easily the state's most populous county.
According to the Newsmax elections tracker, Hobbs defeated Lake by approximately 17,000 votes — or 0.64% percent of the voting tally.
In response to Lake's claims, Maricopa County spokesman Fields Moseley told Reuters the courts are the appropriate venue for campaigns to challenge election results.
Maricopa's election division "looks forward to sharing facts about the administration of the 2022 General Election and our work to ensure every legal voter had an opportunity to cast their ballot," said Moseley.
On Friday, Hobbs' campaign characterized Lake's lawsuit as a "nuisance" and expressed confidence in it being tossed out by the courts.
"Kari Lake needs attention like a fish needs water — and independent experts and local election officials of both parties have made it clear that this was a safe, secure, and fair election," the Hobbs statement read.
Also, "Arizonans made their voices heard and elected Katie Hobbs as their governor. No nuisance lawsuit will change that, and we remain laser-focused on getting ready to hit the ground running on Day One of Katie Hobbs' administration next year," said the statement.
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