Arizona GOP Chairwoman Dr. Kelli Ward said that the state GOP is weighing its options after the state Supreme Court knocked down their election challenge, hinting that they may appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Arizona Supreme Court shot down the lawsuit brought forth by Ward, ruling that they “offered no evidence” that the 1,626 duplicated ballot samples were not sufficient and effectively concluded that a larger sample would not show mass fraud, nor tip the scales of the election in the Grand Canyon State. The sample ultimately revealed seven lost Trump votes in Maricopa County due to errors.
“The Supreme Court said even if the error rate stayed the same for all 27,869 duplicate ballots, there would only be 153 votes with errors, which would not be enough to call the election results into question,” 3TV/CBS 5 reported.
In a Wednesday update, Ward rejected the court’s decision, explaining that the case is “about finding more evidence.”
“As you know, the COVID restrictions made it very difficult for our observers to actually meaningfully observe the duplication process, the signature verification process, the digital adjudication process,” she explained, adding that they found “some abnormalities” and need to look for more.
Let’s just talk a little bit about those abnormalities and rejected ballots in particular. So why are ballots rejected? Some of the main reasons are for signature mismatch, not having a signature, or arriving after the deadline to vote. So with the signature mismatch only about 600 ballots, a little less than 600 actually, out of the 1.9 million-plus that came into Maricopa were rejected for signature mismatch this year. There were many more in 2016 that were rejected when far fewer votes actually came in that way. Also just for no signatures, about 1,400 were rejected for no signatures in 2020; about 2,200, 2,300 were rejected in 2016. So there’s a big mismatch there and let’s not forget we had some late voter registration that happened here in Arizona. There were ten days of registration that went on beyond what is legislatively allowed, what it says in our state statute.
Ward added that the fight is “far from over” and hinted that they are weighing if they will take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“We’re preparing about what to do next. Are we going to go to the Supreme Court of the United States? Maybe. I’ll let you know tomorrow,” she said.
The Arizona Republican Party also teased a potential appeal to the highest court in the land, asking its 62,000 followers, “Should we appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court?”:
The U.S. Supreme Court turned down a Pennsylvania election challenge this week, but Texas, also this week, filed a lawsuit directly with the Supreme Court against the key states of Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, alleging violations of the Electors Clause and the Equal Protection Clause.