Kari Lake’s Election Challenge Falls Flat
What a sad end to eight years of GOP success under Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey.
By The Editorial Board
Dec. 27, 2022 6:33 pm ET
Unsuccessful political candidates are entitled to go to court, but if they don’t have real evidence, it’s an exercise in begging to lose again. That’s what happened in Arizona to Kari Lake, the Republican gubernatorial contender who fell short by 0.7 percentage point, or 17,117 votes, which is outside of recount range.
“A court setting such a margin aside, as far as the Court is able to determine, has never been done in the history of the United States,” state Judge Peter Thompson ruled on Christmas Eve. “No system on this earth is perfect,” he added, but Arizona’s voting was “more than sufficient to comply with the law and conduct a valid election.”
Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, had inexcusable problems with its ballot printers on Election Day, which contributed to long lines. But this was hardly the stuff of conspiracy theories. As Judge Thompson summarized the evidence, a county election technician testified that the most effective printer fix was “shaking the toner cartridge.” Other helpful measures included “letting the printers warm up” or “cleaning the corona wire.”
Some ballots were printed slightly too small, 19 inches instead of the usual 20 inches, which stopped the county’s tabulators from accepting them. Ms. Lake argued this must have been intentional and malicious, despite having no direct evidence. The county said that when technicians were trying to solve the toner problems, a few of them might have incorrectly set those printers on a mode called “shrink to fit.”
Yet too-small ballots were still tallied, Judge Thompson said: “Plaintiff’s own expert acknowledged that a ballot that was unable to be read at the vote center could be deposited by a voter, duplicated by a bipartisan board onto a readable ballot, and—in the final analysis—counted.” Although some Maricopa voters might have been dissuaded by lines, “there was no evidence at Trial” that anyone was “turned away or refused a ballot.”
Ms. Lake said she intends to appeal, but the evidence suggests that what really cost her the election was ticket-splitting. In Maricopa, Ms. Lake won 77,342 fewer votes than GOP state Treasurer Kimberly Yee; 39,165 fewer than the GOP’s U.S. House candidates; and 23,901 fewer than a local GOP prosecutor. The same trend is evident in precinct data.
Maricopa County asked the court to impose sanctions on Ms. Lake, arguing she “decided well before the election that if the results did not favor her, she would deny that they were legitimate.” On Christmas, Ms. Lake tweeted an article claiming the judge’s ruling probably “was ghostwritten” by “left-wing attorneys.” She later deleted the tweet. Judge Thompson on Tuesday declined the request for sanctions but ordered Ms. Lake to cover about $33,000 in expert witness fees for the defense.
Judges also have rejected lawsuits from Mark Finchem, the Republican who lost the Secretary of State race by 4.8 points, or 120,208 votes, as well as Abe Hamadeh, who lost the close Attorney General’s race by 511 ballots. What a sad and ignominious end to eight years of successful GOP governance in Arizona. Gov. Doug Ducey has cut taxes and expanded school choice, while winning re-election in 2018 by 14 points.
That’s a record that would stand up well on a presidential debate stage in 2024. Alas, Arizonans will have to fight for the next four years to keep Mr. Ducey’s work from being undone.
