Kari Lake Scores Major Victory: Signature Verification Court Case Moves Forward

May 6, 2023

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Kari Lake’s case against Maricopa County over signature verification is finally moving forward.

Lake had a huge win in court Thursday, but the media has zeroed in on a penalty imposed on her attorneys rather than on the monumental victory. Rasmussen Reports tweeted that “upwards of 300,000 Mail ballots in Maricopa County Arizona will now be checked for missing or mismatched signature issues in a race that has captured international attention and is divided by less than 15,000 votes. Waiting to see the actual court order.”

Update: Apparently upwards of 300,000 mail ballots in Maricopa County Arizona will now be checked for missing or mismatched signature issues in a race that has captured international attention and is divided by less than 15,000 'votes.'

Waiting to see the actual court order. https://t.co/SSQqhNtScO

— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) May 4, 2023

Prominent attorney Robert Barnes chimed in, rebuking mainstream media of dishonesty in trying to cover up Lake’s win. “Honest media headline of AZ Supreme Court today in @Kari Lake case would be: “Arizona Supreme Court orders trial court ‘shall forthwith’ proceed with the signature verification issue while denying attorneys’ fees request from county lawyers.” Oddly both facts are missing from media.”

Instead, the media opted to focus on a small slap on the wrist infraction by Lake’s attorney for using the verbiage “undisputed fact.” Lake and her legal team were reprimanded for their word choice at the request of the defendant, which sanctioned the attorneys and imposed a $2000.00 fine.

Lake’s attorney team claimed it was an “undisputed fact” that 35,563 ballots were added to Maricopa County’s total votes. According to the court order, Arizona Chief Justice Robert Brutinel said their claim violated court conduct rules that barrs false statements saying, “Not only is that allegation strongly disputed by the other parties, this Court concluded and expressly stated that the assertion was unsupported by the record, and nothing in Lake’s Motion for Leave to file a motion for reconsideration provides reason to revisit that issue.” It continued, “Although Lake may have permissibly argued that an inference could be made that some ballots were added, there is no evidence that 35,563 ballots were and, more to the point here, this was certainly disputed by the Respondents. The representation that this was an ‘undisputed fact’ is therefore unequivocally false,” the order read.

The media choose to capitalize on the reprimand rather than Lake’s win. Lake’s War Room tweeted, “The media’s narrative is about minor sanctions over a semantic dispute and not Kari’s huge victory.

The Arizona Supreme Court has given us the go-ahead to start our investigation of the signature verification process. We will expose Maricopa County’s House of Cards.

Update: Apparently upwards of 300,000 mail ballots in Maricopa County Arizona will now be checked for missing or mismatched signature issues in a race that has captured international attention and is divided by less than 15,000 'votes.'

Waiting to see the actual court order. https://t.co/SSQqhNtScO

— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) May 4, 2023

Attorney Barnes also responded to the fine calling it strange, “$2k over the use of the word “undisputed.” Kinda Lame. Also kinda odd to highlight the issue without pointing out how little the award is and how minor the dispute was.

Kurt Olsen, one of Lake’s two attorneys on the case, was upbeat about the proceeding but took time to address the $2000.00 penalty saying,

“We respectfully disagree with the Court’s holding but look forward to presenting our case at trial.”

In March, the Arizona Supreme Court reviewed Lake’s contentions regarding Arizona’s 2022 elections. The judges ordered Lake’s claim that Maricopa County violated its signature verification policies in the 2022 election be remanded to the Maricopa County Superior Court.

The Superior Court waited for the higher court to determine if Lake would be forced to pay sanctions to Hobbs and Fontes regarding her 35,563 unaccounted early ballot claim.
Lake’s allegation is that Maricopa County’s signature verification process is flawed and has impacted the outcome of the elections.

The Supreme Court ordered that the Superior Court begin addressing Lake’s signature verification claim saying, “the trial court shall forthwith conduct such proceedings as appropriate to resolve” the allegations regarding signature verification. The court also ruled that Lake does not have to pay the county attorney fees.