Arizona judge rules against Kari Lake’s election claims

PHOENIX, Ariz. (NBC) - A judge ruled Saturday against Republican Kari Lake's bid to overturn Arizona's 2022 election.

That means that Katie Hobbs will be the governor-elect of Arizona, and the election won't be redone.

Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson, an appointee of former Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, affirmed that the court did not find clear and convincing evidence that misconduct had occurred in any of Lake's accusations.

Lake didn't offer evidence to back her claims of widespread, intentional misconduct on Election Day at her two-day trial, challenging her loss to Democrat Katie Hobbs in the state's governor's race.

Printer problem claims

"Lake also never established her claim that printer problems at Maricopa County polling places were intentional acts that would have changed the race's outcome had they not occurred," said Abha Khanna, a lawyer representing Hobbs, who ultimately won the race by just over 17,000 votes.

Lake's lawyers focused on problems with ballot printers at some polling places in Maricopa County; home to more than 60% of voters in the state.

The defective printers produced ballots that were too light to be read by the on-site tabulators at polling places. Lines backed up in some areas amid the confusion.

County officials say everyone had a chance to vote and that all ballots were counted, adding ballots affected by printer issues were taken to more sophisticated counters at the Elections Department Headquarters.

Centerpiece of her campaign

At any rate, Lake was among the most vocal Republicans this year in promoting former President Donald Trump's election falsehoods.

These overall beliefs Lake made became the centerpiece of her campaign.

While most of the other election deniers around the country conceded after losing their races in November, Lake has not.

Instead, she is asking the judge to either declare her the winner or order a revote in Maricopa County.