Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake has yet to concede her race against Democratic opponent and Secretary of State Katie Hobbs.
In fact, she’s taking the race a step further.
Attorneys for Lake filed suit this week against Maricopa County officials seeking documents and other information related to the Nov. 8 election.
The legal action comes before the county is scheduled to certify its election results on Monday, showing that Hobbs won.
“Plaintiff desires that every lawful vote be properly counted and every voter who was eligible to vote be allowed to vote,” the lawsuit states.
“Because Defendants were unable or unwilling to conduct a reconciliation of voter check ins against ballots cast of each polling center on election night in accordance with Arizona law and have now unlawfully refused to produce public records in response to two public records requests regarding how they administered the election, Plaintiff cannot determine that every lawful vote will be properly counted,” the suit says.
“The records Plaintiff requested in response to the numerous issues with Defendants’administration of the election are consistent with a parallel demand by the Arizona Attorney General for answers to questions about the Defendants’ actions.
“Given instances of misprinted ballots, the commingling of counted and uncounted ballots, and long lines discouraging people from voting, as demonstrated in the attached declarations, these records are necessary for Plaintiff to determine the full extent of the problems identified and their impacts on electors,” the 19-page lawsuit added.
The Lake campaign says it has received the public documents requested, save for two omissions:
1) “All communications prior to Election Day between or among County employees, agents and vendors with regard to problems with tabulation or printing of ballots at vote centers.”
2) “All public records related to retabulation of votes cast in person at vote centers due to commingling and/or reconciliation issues.”
“The filing today was basically just a way for the courts to pressure Maricopa County into giving us public records we have been asking for,” Lake said Wednesday.
She blasted county officials over the treatment of “Election Day voters,” which included those printer issues and “three-hour lines.”
“We cannot allow an election like this to stand,” Lake asserted.