A judge in Maricopa County, Arizona, has decided not to halt former Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake’s attempts to access vote affidavit envelopes from last year’s election. Lake continues to combat what she perceives to be fraudulent acts that she claims contributed to her loss.

Maricopa County had maintained that the signatures on the ballot affidavit are confidential because they are an integral part of the voter registration record, which is protected by state law, with the exception of a few instances in which county attorneys believed Lake fell short.

According to the AZ Capitol Times, late last month, Judge John Hannah rejected the argument based on the fact that county recorders routinely include ballot affidavit envelopes in voter registration records, though not always due to legal requirements or explicit instructions.

Hannah stated from the bench that the court is “not required to defer to the elections officials in how they have historically interpreted” the Act. Even though he disagreed with the interpretation, he stated that he had “no dispute” with it.

“I am not convinced that the ballot affidavit is a voter registration record,” Hannah said. “It is a record from which the election officials derive information that becomes part of the voter registration record, but that doesn’t mean the ballot affidavit itself is a voter registration record.”

This was added by the source:

“Hannah then tasked the parties with litigating under public records law instead, meaning the county must argue releasing the records would violate privacy interests or run counter to the best interest of the state. At oral arguments today, Joseph LaRue, senior election attorney for Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, previewed arguments from the county against disclosing the records.”

“The county concedes that the ballot affidavit envelopes are public records, but they claim they have ‘several’ vested interests in keeping the records confidential. He said the county sought ‘to protect the integrity of elections’ as making voter signatures publicly available could open the potential for forgery or fraud on ballot envelopes.”

LaRue added: “That would take some work. It wouldn’t be an easy thing to do, but it might be able to happen.” CONTINUE READING…