A federal judge tossed another election challenge in Arizona on Wednesday, ruling that the case was “sorely wanting of relevant or reliable evidence.”
In a 29-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Diane Humetewa dismissed another Republican election challenge, which aimed to push state officials to decertify the election.
Per the Arizona Republic:
The lawsuit — filed by a group primarily composed of would-be Donald Trump electors, including Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward — claimed “massive election fraud” in Arizona involving Dominion voting machines, foreign interference and illegal votes.
But their 100-plus-page complaint and preliminary arguments did little to convince Humetewa, who deemed the relief sought by the group “extraordinary.”
The judge assessed that, if granted, “millions of Arizonans who exercised their individual right to vote in the 2020 General Election would be utterly disenfranchised.'”
“Such a request should then be accompanied by clear and conclusive facts to support the alleged ‘egregious range of conduct in Maricopa County and other Arizona counties … at the direction of Arizona state election officials,'” she said.
“Yet the Complaint’s allegations are sorely wanting of relevant or reliable evidence, and Plaintiffs’ invocation of this Court’s limited jurisdiction is severely strained,” she continued.
Humetewa concluded that the plaintiff’s allegations “fail in their particularity and plausibility,” adding that the plaintiff’s 300 pages of attachments were “only impressive for their volume.”
The affidavits and reports, she continued, were “largely based on anonymous witnesses, hearsay, and irrelevant analysis of unrelated elections.”
“Allegations that find favor in the public sphere of gossip and innuendo cannot be a substitute for earnest pleadings and procedure in federal court,” Humetewa wrote in the scathing ruling.
“They most certainly cannot be the basis for upending Arizona’s 2020 General Election. The court is left with no alternative but to dismiss this matter in its entirety,” she said.
Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (D), who once referred to President Trump’s base as neo-Nazis, celebrated the ruling. Her attorney had previously referred to the lawsuit as “dystopian fiction.”
Hobbs said in part:
Today’s dismissal of the election lawsuit marks a turning point in our democratic process. It’s time for us to turn our attention to rebuilding our faith in each other. My sincerest concern about each of these legal actions was never that they would invalidate the results, but were instead intended to create discord and dissolution, further exploiting divisions in our communities. Although the courts have dismissed these claims, the damage has been done. We are emerging from an election cycle that has further normalized vitriol and violence.
The news followed the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision to uphold a lower court ruling in another election integrity challenge lodged by Arizona Republican Party chairwoman Kelli Ward, who hinted on Wednesday that she was considering appealing to the Supreme Court.