On Election Day, Maricopa County, Arizona, found itself at the center of the national conversation thanks to a number of malfunctioning election machines, incredibly long lines and other issues.
The county is the most populous by far in a state where Democrat Katie Hobbs won the gubernatorial challenge by a mere 0.6 percent (roughly 17,000 votes) over her Republican opponent, former local news anchor-turned-conservative firebrand Kari Lake.
Because of this, Arizona State Senator Sonny Borrelli filed a lawsuit on Monday. The suit alleges that voters in the more rural Mohave County were disenfranchised by the malfeasance of Maricopa County election officials. As a result, Borrelli is calling for officials to “nullify the results.”
Proud of Mohave County resident and Dist 30 Senator Sonny Borrelli for filing his lawsuit against Katie Hobbs and Maricopa County. Mohave County voters were disenfranchised and Borrelli is doing something about it! pic.twitter.com/4eWqoVqJXC
— Mohave County Republican Central Committee (@MCRCC2) December 13, 2022
The suit names numerous Maricopa County election officials and even Katie Hobbs herself; as secretary of state, Hobbs was responsible for overseeing her own election.
Pointing to “multiple systemic failures,” including reliance on unreliable software, Borelli argues that the county’s actions on Election Day violated Arizona statutory law.
Specifically, the software in question is an artificial intelligence program used by the county for the purposes of signature verification.
“[T]he voting strength of residents in Mohave County, Arizona, was dilated and their Constitutional rights were violated,” the suit reads.
Should the Arizona election be redone?
Yes: 100% (2 Votes)
No: 0% (0 Votes)
One Maricopa County representative spoke to Just the News in response to the suit.
“The court system is the proper place for campaigns challenging the results to make their case. Maricopa County respects the election contest process and looks forward to sharing facts about the administration of the 2022 General Election and our work to ensure every legal voter had an opportunity to cast their ballot,” the representative said.
Many lawsuits have already been filed in response to Maricopa County’s handling of the election.
Republican Attorney General candidate Abe Hamadeh, who was shown to be tailing his opponent by 510 votes after all the Arizona votes were tallied (a recount is underway), filed a lawsuit contesting the results. Hamadeh was joined on the suit by the Republican National Committee, though a judge later dismissed it.
Another lawsuit was filed by Mark Finchem, the Republican candidate for secretary of state who lost to his Democratic opponent by roughly 5 percentage points.
On Tuesday, Lake issued an update on her own lawsuit.
“My legal team has been working non-stop investigating and gathering sworn declarations from whistleblowers and witnesses building the strongest election lawsuit in U.S. history,” Lake said.
“Our lawsuit exposes many of the issues that have plagued our election system in Arizona and have disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of Arizonans.”
“Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Election Day in Maricopa County was an absolute debacle.”
