A judge in Maricopa County has granted (in part) Kari Lake’s request to analyze ballots.
The Lake campaign will have to designate a ballot inspector and provide the court with contact information for them by Friday at 12pm. The inspection would begin on December 20, 2022, at 8am.
The Lake Campaign has asked to review the following:
1) Fifty randomly selected “ballot-on-demand” (BOD) printed ballots cast on ElectionDay from six vote centers in Maricopa County chosen by her representative
2) Fifty randomly selected early ballots cast in the 2022 general election from six separateMaricopa County batches chosen by her representative
3) Fifty randomly selected early ballot envelopes for early ballots cast in Maricopa Countyin the 2022 general election
4) Fifty randomly selected BOD printed ballots that were marked spoiled on Election Dayfrom six separate Maricopa County vote centers chosen by her representative.
The judge granted request 1), 2) and 4) but denied request 3) for the following reason:
However, request (3), for inspection of early ballot envelopes, moves beyond the statutory scope of permitted inspection. Early-ballot return envelopes are not themselves ballots, even if they arrive as a “package” as Plaintiff argues. The defendants are correct that ballots — unlike the return envelopes — do not contain signatures. Indeed, they cannot, as the Arizona Constitution requires that “secrecy in voting shall be preserved,” by any voting method prescribed by the legislature. See Ariz. Const. Art. 7 § 1. Thus, inspection request (3) is denied because it is not authorized by the inspection statute and such an inspection would violate the Arizona Constitution. Plaintiff is entitled to her other three requests.
“[a]fter the statement of contest has been filed and the action is at issue, either partymay have the ballots inspected before preparing for trial.”
One provision is that the order will be vacated if the motion to dismiss the case is granted.
The hearing on the motion to dismiss is scheduled for Monday the 19th.
If the motion to dismiss is not granted, a two-day evidentiary hearing is scheduled for December 21st and 22nd.
