Judge Refuses To Dismiss Kari Lake’s Effort to Access Ballot Affidavit Envelopes

A judge in Maricopa County, Arizona, has ruled he won’t block former GOP gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake’s attempts to access ballot affidavit envelopes from last year’s election as she continues to battle what she views as fraudulent activities that she says led to her defeat.

Maricopa County had argued that, except for a few specific cases where county attorneys believed Lake fell short, the signatures present on the ballot affidavit are considered confidential as they are an integral part of the voter registration record, protected by state law.

But Judge John Hannah dismissed the claim on the basis that county recorders frequently incorporate ballot affidavit envelopes into voter registration records, not necessarily due to legal obligations or explicit instructions, according to the AZ Capitol Times late last month.
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The court is “not required to defer to the elections officials in how they have historically interpreted” the statute, Hannah noted from the bench. He added that while he did not disagree with the interpretation, he also had “no quarrel” 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.”

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