Kari Lake's records request and lawsuit on ballot return envelopes rejected by judge

A Maricopa County judge has rejected former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake's lawsuit seeking to review ballot return envelopes of about 1.3 million voters.

Superior Court Judge John Hannah's ruling, which was filed Thursday, follows two days of trial on Sept. 21 and 25, during which Maricopa County made its case that Recorder Stephen Richer's office was right to deny Lake access to those envelopes and the signatures on them.

Lake and her attorney sought the envelopes under Arizona Public Records Law in connection to her separate case challenging Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs' 17,000-vote victory last year.

Hannah affirmed the county's denial of Lake's request, writing in his order that releasing the envelopes and signatures could lead to voter fraud and hamstring county officials who use the envelope signatures to verify a voter's identity on future ballots.

"The broad right of electoral participation outweighs the narrow interests of those who would continue to pick at the machinery of democracy," Hannah wrote. He found that voters' privacy interests when it comes to their personal information justified withholding the envelopes, writing that to release the envelopes would "create a significant risk of widespread voter fraud where none now exists. It would expose voters to harassment and potentially force them to defend the integrity of their own votes."

The 12-page ruling includes a scathing assessment of Lake's continued argument for reviewing the signatures even after another judge rejected her separate case asking a judge to set aside Hobbs' victory. Lake and her attorney argued that transparency was necessary to instill confidence in elections.

"Ms. Lake regards the electoral process much like the villagers in the famous fable regarded the goose that laid the golden egg, except that her goose failed to lay the egg she expected," Hannah wrote, referencing an Aesop fable. "She insists that something must have gone wrong. If only she could cut open the electoral process and examine each of its 1.3 million pieces, she says, she would be able to figure out what happened and show that the prize has been there waiting for her all along."

Lake and her lawyer, Bryan Blehm, requested to review the early ballot return envelopes of Maricopa County voters earlier this year. Blehm has previously been sanctioned by the Arizona Supreme Court related to his representation of Lake and is currently under investigation by the State Bar of Arizona, which regulates lawyers.

Richer's office denied the request, citing a law that says information in a person's "voter registration records" can be reviewed at the Recorder's Office, except for items like Social Security number, signature and email. The law explicitly identifies seven circumstances in which that information can be reviewed, such as by journalists and election workers.

The county also rejected Lake's request saying it was in the state's best interest not to release the signatures. That interest, the county and its witnesses said, was to prevent future harassment of voters that could ultimately disenfranchise them.

At trial, a former election worker testified about threats she received to her cellphone, email and Facebook account connected to videos posted online that showed her preparing voting equipment for a subpoena from the Arizona Senate GOP's partisan review of the 2020 election in Maricopa County.

Two voters testified about being confronted on their doorstep by people asking about their vote, an encounter one woman described as "frightening" and filled with "venom." While that woman said she might change the method she uses to vote, should her signature become public, no one testified they would skip voting entirely if the information was released.

The law, Hannah wrote, "unequivocally establishes the importance of the individual privacy interest in personal identification information."

"It indicates that the harms to which the release of that private information would expose the affected individuals, such as identity theft, outweigh the general policy of open access to public records in most circumstances." the ruling reads. "The Office of the County Recorder therefore acted lawfully and appropriately when it refused the plaintiff’s public records request for the ballot affidavit envelopes."

Richer said in response to Hannah's ruling that his office takes legal compliance seriously. Richer was elected recorder in 2020.

"That's why despite the seemingly countless actions, protestations, and lawsuits, we've never once lost in the court of law since I took office," Richer said.

Blehm did not call any witnesses after Hannah excluded them on the grounds they were irrelevant to the public records issue at hand or otherwise unqualified.

Hannah repeatedly sought to keep the scope of the case focused on public records law, reining in Blehm when he veered toward questions about signature verification practices.

Blehm wanted to call Shelby Busch, of the political group We The People AZ Alliance, which analyzed signatures as part of the 2020 Senate ballot review and would analyze signatures for Lake, should the court turn them over to the former gubernatorial candidate. Busch was a witness Hannah deemed unqualified to testify.

Blehm's case, as outlined in his opening statement and closing argument in the public records trial, was that voter information is available elsewhere, and thus should not be protected based on a voter's privacy interest. He repeatedly argued that signatures are in the stream of commerce — like when you sign a receipt at a restaurant.

Lake attended the first day of trial, before jetting off to campaign for former President Donald Trump in Iowa, her home state, the next day. Just weeks after her trial concluded, she formally launched her bid for U.S. Senate, seeking the seat currently held by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz.

Representatives for Lake did not respond to a request for comment on Hannah's ruling.

While the Senate campaign has sought to pivot away from Lake's common refrain as a gubernatorial candidate that elections were stolen and rigged, Lake's lawyer has continued to pursue an appeal of her loss to Hobbs. That case remains pending.

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

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Judge rejects Kari Lake lawsuit, records request on ballot envelopes