Republican candidate Kari Lake made her announcement to run for the Arizona U.S. Senate seat during a rally in Scottsdale, Arizona on October 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Arizona Republican Senate candidate, Kari Lake, is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to revive a lawsuit that seeks to abolish the use of electronic voting machines across the United States.
The lawsuit, which was initially filed during Lake’s candidacy for governor of Arizona, was dismissed in August 2022. Following this, the district court judge in charge of the case sanctioned the plaintiffs for making false, misleading, and unsupported factual statements in their submissions. The dismissal was subsequently affirmed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in October 2023.
The appeal to the nine justices commences with a heartfelt expression of concern about the potential threat that computerized voting poses to democracy.
The petition for writ of certiorari argues that there is a significant and increasing public distrust in elections. It highlights the intended purpose of electronic voting machines, which was to address issues like the 2000 Florida recount. However, the flaws that have been discovered in these machines make the infamous hanging chads issue seem like a preferable alternative. At least with hanging chads, humans could physically interact with the ballots and punch cards. By relying on black boxes controlled by proprietary software, the transparency and ability to verify the election process have been compromised.
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U.S. District Judge John J. Tuchi dismissed the original lawsuit on the grounds that Lake and Mark Finchem did not have standing to sue. The judge determined that their claims were too speculative to establish an injury in fact.
Lake and Finchem, in their bid to seek justice from the country’s highest court, have brought to light new evidence that was previously unknown to the plaintiffs. This evidence pertains to the measures taken to guarantee the accuracy of the vote.
According to the petition, Maricopa County blatantly violated state law by using electronic voting systems that had altered software not certified for use in Arizona. Furthermore, they actively misrepresented and concealed these violations. The petition also raises concerns about the Dominion Voting Systems, Inc., which were used in Maricopa County and nearly thirty other states. It claims that these systems have a built-in security breach that could potentially allow malicious actors to manipulate elections without being detected.
Attorney Lawrence Joseph asserts that the state had previously made “false representations” in order to have the original lawsuit dismissed.
According to the petition, Maricopa’s election software, which was supposed to be certified by Arizona, has been secretly modified in terms of the components that control the reading and tabulation of ballots. As a result, the election results produced by this uncertified software cannot be considered reliable. This contradicts Maricopa’s claims to the district court that the software used in the 2020 election had been approved.
According to the petition, the new evidence establishes a stronger connection to the legal harms alleged by the plaintiffs.
The petition argues that when the action was filed, there was no doubt about the causation or the possibility of redress because the respondents had directly harmed the petitioners and a court could have prevented further harm through injunctive relief. The only question now is whether the injuries suffered by the petitioners have become impossible to remedy. However, even after elections have taken place, their injuries can still be partially addressed through an injunction for future elections.
Lake’s petition focuses on a well-known voting machine company that is highly susceptible to system abuse. The urgency of the situation is emphasized, as the request is presented as a potential threat to the integrity of elections.
The petition argues that election results in states that used Dominion voting machines cannot be trusted without a resolution. It emphasizes the need for the Court’s intervention to ensure that any potential manipulation or irregularities in the electoral process are thoroughly investigated. The petition acknowledges the challenges posed by the limited timeframes for election litigation and the lengthy duration of complex civil litigation, which make it crucial for the Court to act decisively in order to prevent any undetected interference with the democratic will of the electorate.
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