Kari Lake gets one final chance to prove she was robbed

So it comes down to this for Kari Lake.

After several lawsuits, a multitude of ever evolving accusations and coast-to-coast, 24/7 complaints that she was robbed, Lake gets yet another trial to try to demonstrate that she was denied her due in the Arizona governor’s race held more than six months ago.

Proving that inevitable point that if you throw enough, um, stuff against the wall, surely something will stick …

Or will it?

Kari Lake has a high hurdle to clear

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson on Monday ruled that Lake has one final chance to prove she is Arizona’s duly-elected governor, denied her victory as a result of a plot engineered by the Republicans who run Maricopa County’s elections.

But oh, what a high hurdle she must clear.

Thompson tossed out Lake’s latest BOMBSHELL — her claim that the county sabotaged tabulation equipment to throw the race to Democrat Katie Hobbs.

This followed his December ruling tossing out her various other claims about the many ways in which she was robbed.

But the Arizona Supreme Court ordered him to take another look at her signature verification complaint, and on Monday he granted her a two-day trial beginning on Wednesday to produce “clear and convincing evidence” that the county didn’t bother verifying tens of thousands of early ballot signatures, resulting in her loss.

Lake was jubilant.

“HUGE: Following Supreme Court Ruling, Maricopa County Judge grants @KariLake the opportunity to EXPOSE Election Fraud IN COURT!” she tweeted.

Lake’s attorneys claim they have evidence

I’m guessing she didn’t actually read the judge’s tall order.

“She must demonstrate at trial pursuant to her concessions that Maricopa County’s higher level signature reviewers conducted no signature verification or curing and in so doing had systematically failed to materially comply with the law,” Thompson wrote, in his ruling issued Monday night.

“This is, of course, in addition to the requirement that she prove that this alleged complete failure to conduct verification resulted in a change in the outcome of the gubernatorial election proven by ‘competent mathematical basis.’ ”

In other words, Hobbs can rest easy.

Lake’s attorneys claim to have evidence that shows at least 175,000 early mail-in ballots were illegally counted in a race she lost by 17,117 votes. That the county ignored a requirement that it verify that early ballots were signed by actual voters.

Never mind that voters can verify that

To prove its point, Team Lake points to what it claims are phony signatures on ballots in the 2020 election.

That’ll be a non-starter, given that Lake ran in 2022, not 2020.

She also is relying on three low-level 2022 elections workers who claim they threw out anywhere from 15% to 40% of signatures, only to watch as those signatures eventually were accepted and the ballots counted.

“We have a mathematical basis to show that the election should be overturned,” Lake’s attorney, Kurt Olsen, told the judge on Friday.

What’s next:For Kari Lake’s election challenge?

Never mind that signature verification is a three-step process, with rejected signatures kicked up to two additional levels of better-trained workers who have access to additional signatures in a voter’s file.

Never mind, too, that voters whose signatures are rejected are given a chance to “cure” their ballots by verifying that they, in fact, signed them.

Don’t expect clear proof of election fraud

Maricopa County’s leaders don’t sound like they’re exactly laying awake nights, worried about Lake’s latest “opportunity to EXPOSE Election Fraud IN COURT!”

“For three years, our signature verification process has been questioned and for three years we have presented evidence in court — and to voters — that showed it is thorough, legal, and always subject to bipartisan oversight,” Supervisors Chairman Clint Hickman said, in a statement issued late Monday.

“Judge Thompson has now ordered a short trial that gives Kari Lake an opportunity to provide clear and convincing evidence to the contrary.”

Clear and convincing to a judge — not to a bunch of conspiracy Twitterers who are predisposed to believe whatever fantasy Lake conjures up.

A judge who on Wednesday will be looking for Lake to prove her claim, with actual, hard evidence that she didn’t lose to Hobbs by 17,117 votes.

Me? I’m thinking it’s time for Kari Lake to grab her sledgehammer and gear up that run for the Senate.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.

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