Kari Lake wraps up push to make Arizona voter signatures public information

After a two-day bench trial wrapped up Monday, it is as much as a federal
choose to resolve whether or not Kari Lake could have entry to greater than a
million voter signatures below Arizona Public Report Legislation.

Lake, a
former TV information anchor who misplaced Arizona’s 2022 gubernatorial election to
Katie Hobbs by greater than 17,000 votes, has develop into a figurehead in a so
far unsuccessful motion to show mass voter fraud tainted the outcomes
of the final two normal elections. 

In her fourth lawsuit pushing
stolen election claims, the Donald Trump-endorsed politician is asking
for entry to 1.3 million early voter poll affidavit envelopes
containing voter signatures, hoping to show that Maricopa County’s
failure to correctly confirm signatures led to the incorrect candidate — not
Lake, that’s — profitable a seat in Arizona’s govt tower. She sued
Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer in April after his workplace
rejected her public information request for the signatures the month earlier than.

Richer’s
attorneys say voter signatures are a part of an individual’s voter
registration document and are due to this fact not topic to public information
requests. Making signatures public would violate voter privateness and will
be used to assist in voter fraud — an argument the authorized staff supported
with a number of witnesses throughout the two-day trial, who mentioned they’d have
privateness considerations if their voter signatures have been made public. 

Lake’s lawyer Bryan Blehm argued on the primary day of trial
final Thursday that signatures are already public fixtures in society
and shouldn’t be handled as confidential. He requested witnesses for the
county whether or not they knew that their signature on property deeds is
public; some mentioned they didn’t. 

However Maricopa County Decide John Hannah mentioned Monday that “the supply of signatures elsewhere is totally not related.”

He
cited a 1997 case that discovered academics’ birthdates weren’t topic to
disclosure to a newspaper as a result of the academics had offered them with
the expectation of privateness, although birthdates might be obtained
by different means. 

Blehm countered that signatures aren’t ruled by the identical logic as a result of there’s no expectation of privateness surrounding them.

“Signatures
are in all places,” he mentioned, discovering an instance in checks signed at
eating places. “We give them to strangers on a regular basis.”

Joseph
LaRue, Richer’s lawyer, mentioned the signature on a poll envelope is
doubtless newer than one showing on a property deed, making it extra
delicate.

County attorneys established Monday that releasing a
voter’s signature would imply the discharge of a full poll envelope
picture, which might additionally include the voter’s handle and cellphone quantity, if
they selected to supply it. Blehm mentioned that doesn’t matter since all of the
identical info, minus the signature, might be present in public county
information anybody can request.

LaRue argued that early poll
envelopes and the signatures on them are nonetheless a part of a voter’s
registration document and due to this fact non-public. In the event that they weren’t a part of the
document, LaRue mentioned, then the county couldn’t use them to confirm
signatures — the very apply Lake’s public information request stems
from. 

Blehm mentioned as a result of no statute straight states that, the
solely factor that may be thought of a voter registration document is a voter
registration kind itself.

LaRue added in his closing argument
that publicizing signatures might forestall folks from signing their
envelopes or offering their cellphone quantity, which might make curing
incomplete ballots inconceivable. Two witnesses, together with Richer,
testified to election-related threats they imagine would solely worsen
if folks had simpler entry to voters’ private info.

“All
Maricopa County has dropped at this courtroom are passions,” Blehm mentioned.
“However they haven’t introduced a proof. I can get extra knowledge by
different means, absent the signature, than what’s on the early poll
affidavit envelope.”

Blehm requested Kristi Passarelli, former
assistant director of the county’s election providers, about footage of
on election day that We the Individuals AZ Alliance used whereas trying to
present the county rigged the election. He started by asking Passarelli if
the video depicts her permitting folks into the county’s server rooms
with out correct clearance earlier than Decide Hannah minimize him off.

“Now
we’re catapulting into falsehoods,” Hannah mentioned, referring to unfounded
claims that the county deleted recordsdata that may have proven fraud. 

“Cease it,” he scolded. “Cease it.”

Lake, who wasn’t current on the second day of trial and was 20 minutes late to the primary day, did not name any witnesses.

Hannah once more declined to listen to testimony from Shelby Bush, the founding father of We The Individuals AZ Alliance, the group behind a now-debunked audit
of the 2022 Common Election. He mentioned her testimony, which might have
addressed signature verification and auditing, can be irrelevant to a
public information case. 

The choose additionally declined testimony from
Anthony Kern, a Republican state senator. Lake deliberate for Kern to
refute claims made in Thursday’s testimony about threats of violence at
the Arizona Legislature. Hannah mentioned he revered Kern’s time and need
to set the document straight, however didn’t see how his testimony can be
related as to if voter signatures are public document. 

“This choose must be put in jail,” one girl whispered in courtroom, as Hannah dominated towards letting Kern testify. 

As for the case final result, Hannah mentioned he’ll rule “as shortly as doable.”