Maricopa County judge fast tracks hearing on Kari Lake's final Arizona election challenge claim

A Maricopa County judge has fast-tracked the schedule to resolve the remaining piece of Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake's election challenge, with oral argument set for Friday.

In March, the Arizona Supreme Court ordered Lake should get new consideration of one of her legal claims regarding how Maricopa County verified signatures on ballot affidavit envelopes matched what is in a voter's existing records.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson on Monday set a schedule for that to happen, directing attorneys to file written arguments throughout this week to debate in court Friday.

Lake's attorneys said they will file motions for the judge to reconsider part of Lake's original case that was already dismissed, as well as consolidate it with a pending public records request in which Lake is seeking to examine ballot affidavit envelopes. Attorneys defending Maricopa County, Gov. Katie Hobbs, who won the governor's office by about 17,000 votes, and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes signaled they will file motions to dismiss Lake's signature verification claim.

Thompson said a three-day trial could begin May 17 if necessary. If he agrees to dismiss the remaining count, it would eliminate the need for a trial.

One final shot for Lake: What to know about the claims on signatures, the evidence and the law

How courts have ruled so far on Lake's election challenge

Lake's legal challenge has remained in a judicial back-and-forth since December. The former television news anchor made seven legal claims in her case, six of which the Arizona Supreme Court said were properly dismissed by lower court judges.

No court has found evidence to support Lake's claims that Election Day problems with long lines and ballot tabulators in Maricopa County warranted her demand that she be declared the governor, or that a new election should take place.

Last week, the Arizona Supreme Court ordered Lake's lawyers Bryan Blehm and Kurt Olsen to pay a $2,000 fine for repeating claims that were "unequivocally false" related to 35,000 ballots that they said were injected into the results.

The remaining issue that will now proceed regards signature verification.

In her lengthy lawsuit first filed in December, Lake argued that based on "information and belief," "a material number" of votes with signatures that were not properly verified were counted and could have altered the outcome of the 2022 election.

Thompson dismissed that allegation because of a legal doctrine that prevents delayed lawsuits and bars challenges to election procedures after elections have taken place.

But the Supreme Court said that determination was wrong, and sent the case back to Thompson to decide if there's another reason to dismiss the claim or if Lake can mathematically prove enough ballots were affected to change the outcome of the election.

She cannot rely on "an untethered assertion of uncertainty," the court wrote.

Reach reporter Stacey Barchenger at stacey.barchenger@arizonarepublic.com or 480-416-5669. Follow her on Twitter @sbarchenger.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kari Lake's Arizona election challenge on signatures set for hearing