Arizona’s top elections official is calling for an investigation into Kari Lake, the Trump-backed Republican candidate who lost her gubernatorial campaign in November, over a possible campaign violation over the disclosure of voter signatures.
In a letter dated Monday, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes calls on state Attorney General Kris Mayes to investigate and «take appropriate enforcement action» against Lake for possible violations of state law, citing a cheep Lake posted last week increasing false claims of voter fraud in the gubernatorial race.
Fontes points to «a graphic containing images of sixteen voter signatures» in Lake’s tweet, which he says violates state law that prohibits a voter’s signature from being «accessible or reproduced by anyone other than the voter.»
the washington post first reported the letter, which Mayes’s office shared with NBC News without providing further comment. Lake did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
Lake has repeatedly pushed unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in the 2020 and 2022 elections. In a tweet posted on Jan. 23, Lake claimed that 40,000 ballots did not match voter signatures on Arizona records. The tweet includes a graphic showing 16 voter signatures.
“I think all ‘election deniers’ deserve an apology,” Lake tweeted.
Despite Lake’s loss in the Arizona gubernatorial race to then-Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs in November, Lake has made several unsuccessful attempts to overturn his loss. Lake lost to Hobbs by over 17,000 votes.
Last month, a judge rejected Lake’s challenge to his defeat, rejecting his claims of misconduct with the ballot printers and problems with the chain of custody of the ballots.
The Arizona Supreme Court last week as well refused Lake’s second request that he review his challenge to the 2022 election results. An appeals court will hold a hearing later this week.
During a «Rally to Save Arizona» Sunday night, Lake maintained that she is the rightful governor and that Hobbs is a «squatter in the governor’s office.»
Trump also called the rally to express his continued support for Lake. “Ultimately, she will be victorious,” the former president told the crowd.
Vaughn Hillyard contributed.