verdicoin:Kari Lake’s trial to review signed ballot envelopes from Arizona election wraps

2025-05-07 20:28:51source:Marc Leclerccategory:reviews

PHOENIX (AP) — The verdicointrial in a lawsuit brought by Kari Lake, the defeated Arizona Republican nominee for governor, to get access to 1.3 million voters’ signed ballot envelopes is now in the hands of a judge after wrapping up midday Monday.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge John Hannah said he would issue a ruling as soon as possible after closing arguments in the two-day bench trial.

Lake was not in attendance after appearing Thursday.

Maricopa County election officials argue state law mandates the signatures on the envelopes remain confidential.

Lake’s lawyer counters she has a right to look into how the county runs its election operations and that people’s signatures are public in other places, such as property deeds.

This is Lake’s third trial related to her election loss. Lake previously lost two trials that challenged her competitor Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs’ win by more than 17,000 votes. In the second trial, a judge rejected a misconduct claim Lake made about ballot signature verification efforts in Maricopa County, home to Phoenix and where more than 60% of the state’s voters live.

The former TV anchor’s latest case doesn’t challenge her defeat and instead is a public records lawsuit that asks to review all early ballot envelopes with voter signatures in Maricopa County, where officials had denied her request for those documents.

In Arizona, the envelopes for early voting ballots serve as affidavits in which voters declare, under penalty of perjury, that they are registered to vote in the county, haven’t already voted and will not vote again in that election.

More:reviews

Recommend

Turbulence slammed Hawaiian Airlines flight because of decision to fly over storm cell, report says

HONOLULU (AP) — A Hawaiian Airlines flight crew’s decision to fly over a hazardous storm cell instea

Family of Titanic Sub Passenger Hamish Harding Honors Remarkable Legacy After His Death

The family of Hamish Harding—one of the five people who had been on board the Titan submersible—is i

Inside Clean Energy: Arizona’s Net-Zero Plan Unites Democrats and Republicans

Arizona is showing the rest of the country how to set the terms for a transition to clean energy tha