For Immediate Release
Thursday, September 21st, 2023
Contact: Olivia Taylor-Puckett, otpuckett@azdem.org
What To Know: Kari Goes to Court (Again)

ARIZONA -– Failed Gubernatorial candidate and “less-than-welcome” Senate candidate, Kari Lake will have yet another case going to trial today, September 21st, with another hearing scheduled on September 25th.

“As Kari Lake’s string of lost court cases grows longer, she has shown no signs of slowing down on pushing conspiracy theories and baseless cases ahead of launching her campaign for Senate,” said Olivia Taylor-Puckett, Senior Communications Advisor at the Arizona Democratic Party. 

Here’s what to know about Lake’s case tomorrow:

• Kari Lake is putting forward an unprecedented request to make all Maricopa County early ballot envelopes public– which would include voters’ names, addresses, phone numbers, and signatures.
• Releasing the personal information of voters would risk identity fraud and infringement of privacy that could have a “chilling effect on voters” and could increase voter harassment.
• Today’s case comes after Lake’s continued outrageous claims that the election was stolen, including alleging that Maricopa County engineered “chaos” on Election Day – despite Lake’s own lawyers having acknowledged they have no “substantive evidence of wrongdoing by Maricopa County” – which have been found invalid in trial, appellate and Arizona Supreme Courts.

Here’s a timeline of Lake’s litigation and losses:

• Lake filed a case challenging the results of the gubernatorial election… and lost at trial in December 2022. 
• Lake then appealed that loss to the Arizona appeals court… which affirmed the lower court ruling that Lake did not have evidence to support her claims.
• Lake then appealed the appellate court ruling to the Arizona Supreme Court, which rejected six of seven of her claims, remanding the one remaining claim back to the Maricopa County Superior court. 
• Lake’s remaining claim was sent back to trial in May of 2023… where her final claim was rejected. 
• Now Lake is arguing ballot envelopes containing voter voters’ names, addresses, phone numbers, and signatures are a public record and should be released to her team.
• Kari Lake’s attorneys have been fined for repeated ‘unequivocally false’ claims in her Arizona election challenges. 

And here’s a reminder of some of Kari Lake’s election denialism and threats against election workers, in her own words: 

• Lake has said of election officials in 2021, “I would love to see people in handcuffs. A long perp walk and we can watch them walk. We need to lock these people up. LOCK THEM UP.”
• In December 2022, Lake said, “But I want you to know that I identify as a proud election denying deplorable. Are you with me? And my pronouns are […] and my pronouns are I/Won.”
• In a tweet last month, Lake called Maricopa county election workers “jackasses,” continuing dangerous claims that have resulted in election workers receiving death threats.

Read more:

• New York Times: Lake Won’t Pledge to Accept Election Results
• Arizona Republic: ‘Heinous and profoundly harmful’: Maricopa County seeks sanctions against Lake, attorneys
• The Hill: Kari Lake’s team ordered to pay more than $122K in sanctions over Maricopa lawsuit
• RawStory: Kari Lake confesses she lied about local official

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