Judge to decide whether to overturn 2022 election

TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - A decision which could have a profound impact on the Arizona Governor’s race is in the hands of a Maricopa County judge tonight.

After two days of testimony, Judge Peter Thompson must decide whether the Maricopa County Election’s Office botched the 2022 election in such a manner that flipped the election from Lake to Governor-elect Katie Hobbs.

He said he will take the case under advisement and “issue a ruling forthwith,” but added “I know this is a highly contested and emotional case.”

In the final arguments Lake’s attorney’s argued this election trial is about trust in the system and says the election run by Maricopa County was poorly run, creating chaos and creating a botched election, disenfranchising thousands of voters which would have flipped the election to Kari Lake.

“The substantial misconduct with respect to the tabulators and to the violations of the chain of custody rules,” said Kurt Olsen, Lake’s lead attorney. “This is just wrong what’s happening.

In his closing he went on to day “this is about trust, about restoring the people’s trust.”

However Katie Hobbs attorney, Abha Khanna,  argued that the story told by Lake and her lawyers was a fabrication based on lies, conspiracy theories and speculation but not on facts.

It brought several expert witnesses who said the errors in this election are common in elections across the country and were not because of nefarious actions. They added for all the problems there is a fix which is what Maricopa County did when the problems arose.

“The reason she lost is, not because of a printer error, not because of missing paperwork, not because the election was rigged against her and certainly not for lack of an opportunity to prove her case in court of law,” Khanna said. “She lost because she got fewer votes than Katie Hobbs.”

At the end of the two day trial, Judge Thompson, said he will make his ruling keeping the time constraints in mind.

“I will take the matter under advisement and ah, issue a ruling forthwith,” he said. “I need to go over everything so don’t expect this is coming out by 5:00.”

But a lot of people are hoping the decision comes sooner rather than later.

Lake is asking for the unprecedented, overturning the election and declaring her the winner.

Hobbs is asking the case be dismissed and sanctions be imposed on the Lake team for bringing a frivolous lawsuit.

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