Kari Lake, the Republican who ran for governor of Arizona in 2022, is asking the state Supreme Court to further review her claim that there are 35,563 votes unaccounted for, the Independent Journal Review reported.
Democrat Katie Hobbs was declared the winner in the race with about a 17,000-vote margin of victory, the outlet noted.
In March, the Arizona Supreme Court affirmed most of the trial court’s and appellate courts’ rulings.
Lake was ordered by the court to file a response to Hobbs’ and Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’ motions that Lake be sanctioned financially for alleging in her brief “the undisputed fact that 35,563 unaccounted for ballots were added to the total of ballots at a third party processing facility.”
And the justices said: “The record does not reflect that 35,563 unaccounted ballots were added to the total count. The motions for sanctions will be considered in due course.”
Attorneys for Lake had said in a March 16 filing that 298,942 ballots were scanned in Maricopa County on Election Day. However, documentation from the county showed a total of 263,379.
“The record indisputably reflects at least 35,563 Election Day early ballots, attorneys for Lake said in the latest brief. Not only should Respondents’ request for sanctions be denied, but Lake respectfully requests leave of the Court to treat this response as a motion for reconsideration of the Court’s denial of review on this chain-of-custody issue.”
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump is giving serious consideration to choosing a woman as his running mate, with Lake at the top of his short list, according to Axios.
Citing people who have discussed the matter with Trump, the outlet reported that the former president already is strategizing for the 2024 general election and is aware he needs to perform better among white suburban women.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.