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    • Lake, Hamadeh, Finchem election appeals dismissed by AZ Supreme Court
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    Lake, Hamadeh, Finchem election appeals dismissed by AZ Supreme Court

    Online Niel Posted on

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    A trio of high-profile cases filed by Arizona Republicans challenging their losses to Democrats in the 2022 election have ended.

    The Arizona Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to hear appeals filed by Kari Lake, Abe Hamadeh and Mark Finchem related to their defeats two years ago.

    The decision brings finality to the cases on the heels of other elections in which Arizonans elected Hamadeh and Finchem to other posts.

    Hamadeh won a seat in Congressand Finchem will return to Arizona Legislature, this time in the Senate. Lake, who is running for the U.S. Senate, was trailing her Democratic opponent Ruben Gallego unofficial results from Thursday.

    Arizona’s highest court met Wednesday to decide which cases it will hear and which it won’t, rejecting appeals from three Republicans. Justices vote on whether to hear a case and decide for their own reasons, Chief Justice Ann Scott Timmer said in a statement. These decisions are not collective or publicly explained.

    Lake claimed she lost to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs two years ago in a “stolen” election. Hobbs beat Lake by about 17,000 votes, less than one percentage point. Lake assumed that ballot problems and long lines in Maricopa County were reason enough to declare himself Arizona’s 24th governor or, alternatively, to run for re-election in the state’s most populous county .

    Her case has lasted in part because, while courts have rejected most of her claims for lack of evidence, the Arizona Supreme Court has given her a second chance to argue issues related to signature verification on early voting. But one The appeals court earlier this year rejected those claims from Lake’s legal team.

    Hamadeh, who lost to Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes by just 280 votes after the recount, filed in Mohave County. In May, his lawyers asked the state’s top court to review the case, arguing they were “straightjacketed” to a 2022 trial because a judge did not give them access to revision ballots, a cast vote record or a list of provisional ballots.

    “We applaud the Supreme Court’s correct decision to end this frivolous challenge by Mr. Hamadeh,” Mayes said in a statement Thursday. “This ends a series of unfortunate and ill-informed lawsuits that have led to an entirely new election cycle. I will continue my work as an advocate for all the people of Arizona.”

    Finchem faced Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes in the 2022 election, but lost by more than 120,000 votes. The Court of Appeal dismissed in June Finchem’s claims that the 2022 election was riggedpossibly refusing him the position of secretary.

    Finchem did not return a call seeking comment. A spokesman for Hamadeh and Lake’s attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.

    The Supreme Court also denied Finchem’s request to vacate an order from the Court of Appeals to pay $38,000 in attorneys’ fees to Fontes.

    Craig Morgan, Fontes’ lawyer, said the Supreme Court decisions appeared to mark the end of the nearly two-year legal battle over the last election.

    Reach reporter Stacey Barchenger at [email protected] or 480-416-5669.

    Contact the reporter at [email protected] or 602-228-7566 and follow her on Threads as well as on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @maryjpitzl.

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