More than six months after losing her bid for governor of Arizona, former Republican candidate Kari Lake lost another court battle on Monday in her effort to overturn Democrat Katie Hobbs’ victory.
In a 6-page ruling, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson ruled that Lake failed to provide evidence of misconduct in the county’s signature verification procedures for early ballots.
Lake, a former television presenter and prominent election denier, lost last year’s gubernatorial race by 17,117 votes and alleged the victory was marred by misconduct and illegal voting.
In December, Thompson dismissed Hobbs’ claims that faulty printers and other issues related to the 2022 election were the result of willful misconduct – a ruling upheld in February by an appeals court.
In March, the state high court declined to hear most of Lake’s appeal against the February ruling. But the Arizona Supreme Court returned his request challenging the signature verification procedures to the trial court, saying it was dismissed in error.
At the time, Lake called the proceedings a “house of cards” that she said her team “will have a chance to overthrow.”
During a three-day trial, Lake’s lawyers argued there was evidence that lower-level controllers who found inconsistencies in signatures moved them up the chain of command, where they were overlooked by higher-level auditors, THE Associated Press reported.
Thompson, who was nominated by former Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, found no “clear and convincing evidence or a preponderance of evidence that such misconduct was committed by ‘an officer making or participating in a web'” , according to the decision.
He also found no evidence that the alleged misconduct affected the outcome of the election.
A spokesperson for Lake did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday evening.
Associated press contributed.