Arizona Republican Gubernatorial Nominee Kari Lake has made the decision to take her battle for ballot access to court. County Recorder Stephen Richer denied Lake’s request to review the mail-in ballot envelope signatures from the general election in Maricopa County, saying it would “weaken the security controls on early voting, and would open the door to voter harassment.”
Professional Victim @stephen_richer is lying again.
We're not asking these signatures to be made public.
We are asking to review them to assess whether they are legitimate or not.
We have a STRONG reason to believe they're not.
Clearly, so does Stephen. pic.twitter.com/0KxW1a1TkR
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) September 20, 2023
Kari Lake is challenging Maricopa County’s denial of her request to review mail-in ballot envelope signatures from November’s general election.
In a court filing, the county cited a “privacy interest” as their reason for denying her access.
On Tuesday, September 19, Richer posted on X social media site, saying that he believes these envelopes are not public record according to state statute and making them public could have a chilling effect on voting.
In response, Lake said in a post the next day: “We’re not asking these signatures to be made public. We are asking to review them to assess whether they are legitimate or not…Clearly, so does Stephen [Richer].”
At an Arizona Court hearing Thursday, September 21, Lake’s attorney Bryan Blehm argued that people put their signatures into the stream of public commerce regularly when signing credit card slips and legal forms and this isn’t something private or protected.
Watch! @KariLake Attorney @BlehmLawAZ's opening statement at today's trial.
"Signatures have never really been anything special. And that's why we so routinely, so commonly, so every day, your honor, deposit them into the stream of commerce where they wind up on the County… pic.twitter.com/8AIw50GkDU
— Kari Lake War Room (@KariLakeWarRoom) September 21, 2023
Yavapai County Superior Court Judge John Napper ruled that Maricopa county officials did not follow signature verification process required by Arizona law.
The statute states that election officials shall compare the signature on the voter registration record with those on the ballot affidavit envelope. If there is no match found then county officials must reach out and confirm their identity with the voter before counting it as valid.
Lake said she believes this ruling will help her win her case later this month which seeks to review early ballot signatures.
She also wants voters to know that mail-in ballots are ‘not safe’ nor ‘secure.’
She told Real America Voice: “We’re going to prove that mail-in ballots are not safe, are not secure, that many don’t have signatures, that many of those signatures do not match”.
Two-Day Arizona Trial To Put Mail-In Ballots On The Stand @karilake https://t.co/mU14chHiZP pic.twitter.com/ZHJPUsbtGu
— Grace Chong ???????? (@gc22gc) September 21, 2023
