Kari Lake Files Brief with AZ Supreme Court in Suit Challenging Use of Drop Boxes, Early Voting
GOP Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake submitted an amicus brief on Wednesday in a case filed by the state’s Republican Party seeking to end no-excuse mail-in voting and the use of ballot drop boxes.
“Voters have made it very clear that they are demanding nothing less than completely secure elections and we’re going to give it to them come hell or high water,” Lake said in a statement.
A news release from her campaign added, “A forensic investigation earlier this year, along with a canvass of absentee voters which uncovered tens of thousands of irregularities with ballots cast in the 2020 general election, has compelled Lake to file her brief this morning.
“Voters have also been reaching out by the thousands to the campaign asking for help in securing elections in 2022 and beyond, which is why Lake is fighting against the unconstitutional voting practices that have plagued Arizona for years,” the Lake campaign said.
I am getting involved in the Arizona Supreme Court case dealing with Unconstitutional Election procedures.
I urge the AZ Supreme Court to take up this case immediately.
The people of Arizona have no faith in our elections.
We must restore honesty & integrity pic.twitter.com/xXxZQggX38— Kari Lake for AZ Governor (@KariLake) March 10, 2022
In the amicus brief, Lake’s lawyer Timothy La Sota argues, “Arizona’s founders made it clear in the Arizona Constitution that voting is to be done by secret ballot. Arizona’s current, wide open mail-in voting system is an abject failure at preserving this secrecy, and is inconsistent with this constitutional requirement.
“If there is a way for the Legislature to preserve ballot secrecy, and the right of voters to vote without the fear of threats or intimidation with universal mail-in voting, it has not been thought of yet.”
Approximately 89 percent of Arizonans voted by mail in 2020, up from about 80 percent in 2018.
Lake’s brief says the use of mail-in ballots and drop boxes creates greater opportunities for voter fraud. “But if voting occurs as it should, at the polls on Election Day, such opportunities for mischief are largely eliminated,” it says.
In the motion to file the brief, La Sota wrote that Lake as a candidate for governor has noticed a “high level of interest that the people of the State have in an election system that produces an actual winner on Election Night, not days or weeks later.”
It took until nine days after the November 2020 election for most news outlets to declare Democrat Joe Biden the winner of Arizona.
Delays produce “distrust in the integrity of election,” La Sota contended.
At a rally held by former President Donald Trump outside Phoenix in January, Lake called the 2020 race “rotten to the core,” adding, “You don’t steal our vote” and expect people to accept it.
In Arizona with the next Governor @KariLake and our favorite President Donald Trump!!! #Karizona #MAGA pic.twitter.com/55QpDdWWyL
— Billy Grant (@RealBillyGrant) January 16, 2022
In a television ad released last month, Lake accused the “fake news” of not covering “the biggest story out there: the rigged election of 2020.”
The ad included footage from conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza’s upcoming documentary film “2,000 Mules,” which alleges a “coordinated ring of illegal vote harvesting in all the key states where the election was decided.”
The accusations center on the use of unmanned ballot drop boxes. The trailer highlights Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia as states where this illegal conduct allegedly occurred.
It should be noted that, despite numerous claims of voting irregularities, including affidavits sworn to by reported eyewitnesses, no court has yet ruled that widespread fraud materially affected the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Lake’s legal brief concludes, “If the voters of this state want to amend the Arizona Constitution, they may do so upon proper exercise of the right to initiative or legislative referral. But they must be the ones who do it.
“Simply because some find mail-in voting more convenient is no reason to dispense with the Constitution,” it continues. “And Arizona voters would be amending the Constitution with full knowledge of the problems created by no-excuse mail-in voting, as was on very vivid display in the 2020 election.”
In January, a Pennsylvania court ruled that the state’s no-excuse mail-in voting law is unconstitutional. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration has appealed the ruling to the state’s Supreme Court.
A version of this article originally appeared on Patriot Project.
UPDATE, May 4, 2022: Politifact published an article citing several academics and reported experts who dispute some of the claims made by True the Vote and “2,000 Mules.” Readers interested in this additional information can find that article here.
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