Kari Lake lawsuit alleges thousands of illegal votes counted during midterm election

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -- Republican Kari Lake has filed a lawsuit on Friday evening against current Secretary of State and opponent Katie Hobbs and Maricopa County election officials over how the midterm election was handled.

Lake’s lawyers say the number of illegal votes cast in the general election exceeded the 17,117 vote margin between Lake and Hobbs. The lawsuit says evidence was gathered from witnesses showing “hundreds of thousands of illegal ballots infected the election in Maricopa County.” Like Hamadeh’s lawsuit, Lake also points to tabulation machine issues at some voting centers in Maricopa County. Machines weren’t reading some ballots, which Lake says set off a “domino chain” of chaos and confusion, and delays at some polling sites. She also says thousands of Republican voters had to leave the polls and didn’t vote due to long wait times.

A portion of the 70-page lawsuit states Hobbs and Maricopa County election officials, including Recorder Stephen Richer, participated in an “unconstitutional government censorship operation” using an “election misinformation reporting portal” that removes some posts from social media. Earlier this week, Hobbs’ office defended their decision to ask Twitter to take down tweets about conspiracy theories regarding the election nearly two years ago. Lake’s lawyers say Hobbs and other officials violated Arizonan’s free speech rights.

Lawyers also report Maricopa County officials permitted counting tens of thousands of mail-in and drop box ballots that didn’t have signature verification.

Hobbs’ office released a statement in response to Lake’s lawsuit, calling it “baseless” and said Lake “needs attention like a fish needs water.”

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