Thread by @tracybeanz

🚨🚨Kari Lake: Signature Verification Going to Trial; Order is a Problem - Judge Limiting Scope/Changing Complaint

That title is the best way I can explain what is happening in the Lake case right now.

On Friday, there was a hearing on the Defendants Motion to Dismiss on the… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

The judge denied the reconsideration - and denied the motion to dismiss the signature verification claims. However, in his order, he makes a series of statements that appear to contradict each other and also misrepresent Lake’s complaint. For example:

Here he seems to… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Then, he goes on to order that @KariLake prove an absolutely impossible (and incorrect) fact set at trial— something they have never argued or placed in a complaint in anyway, and is again, nearly an IMPOSSIBLE legal standard… It’s insanity, TBH.

The judge is completely… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

👆This should read *any way- not anyway.

This judge is stating that to succeed, Lake has to prove that Maricopa County’s higher level signature reviewers conducted NO signature verification or curing, and in doing so systematically failed to materially comply with the law. This is in addition to the requirement that she… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

First, Lake never narrowed her complaint to just “Level 2 and 3” verification. Second, as far as I know, she never claimed that there was NO action taken to comport with statue by Maricopa, only that they didn’t do it consistently and that their lack of attention to procedure… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

They request oral argument. That would have to be today. The trial is supposed to start….. tomorrow.

Here the argument begins— the complaint in the Lake case pleads violations at all levels of signature verification— not just 2 and 3. Maricopa spent a lot of time insulting their level 1 signature verification team because THEY are the ones who signed sworn affidavits that the… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Another contentious point came at the end of the hearing on Friday, when Maricopa attempted to thwart Lakes expert witnesses. That is complicated to explain, but it is why Lake’s team is doing what they do here— talking about how continuing analysis they have done doesn’t “add”… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

This is part of the declaration being used as proof of the claims Lake is making- there just isn’t any way that they could have followed procedure (even at level 1) There were 274,319 instances where there evaluation of a signature was made in less than or equal to TWO SECONDS… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Here Lake corrects the judge using the complaint— again clarifying that ALL levels of signature verification experienced failures of process- not just 2 and 3, and that their complaint (or their oral argument the other day, which I listened to) does NOT limit them to just 2 and… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Additionally, Maricopa withheld evidence needed for the expert, and is now claiming that Lake waited too long to include that evidence, thereby prejudicing them for trial— when in actuality THEY MAINTAIN the evidence, so couldn’t be prejudiced by it… Maricopa is playing games..… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

And now we wait…

To summarize, this judge changed it up - and appears to be again inventing election law out of whole cloth (h/t Adam) by requiring that Lake prove that Level 2 and 3 verifiers did not follow ANY signature matching procedures. I’ll stop there. It’s patently… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…