Top Arizona election official calls for investigation of Kari Lake over potential campaign violation

Arizona’s top election official calls for an investigation of Kari Lake, the Trump-backed GOP candidate who lost her gubernatorial campaign in November, for a potential campaign violation over the disclosure of voter signatures .

In a letter dated Monday, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes asks state Attorney General Kris Mayes to investigate and “take appropriate enforcement action” against Lake for d ‘possible violations of state law, citing a Tweeter Lake released last week that bolsters false allegations 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 any person other than the elector”.

The Washington Post first reported the letter, which Mayes’ office shared with NBC News without providing further comment. Lake did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.

Lake has repeatedly escalated unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 and 2022 elections. ‘Arizona. The tweet includes a graphic showing 16 voter signatures.

“I think all ‘election deniers’ deserve an apology,” Lake tweeted.

Despite Lake’s loss in November’s Arizona gubernatorial race to Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, Lake made several unsuccessful attempts to overturn his loss. Lake lost to Hobbs by over 17,000 votes.

Last month, a judge dismissed Lake’s challenge to his defeat, dismissing his allegations of misconduct with ballot printers and problems with the ballot chain of custody.

The Arizona Supreme Court also last week denied Lake’s second request to review his challenge to the 2022 election results. An appeals court is scheduled to hold a hearing later this week.

At a “Save Arizona Rally” on Sunday night, Lake argued that she was the rightful governor and that Hobbs was a “squatter in the governor’s office.”

Trump also called for the rally to express his continued support for Lake. “In the end, she’s going to be victorious,” the former president told the crowd.

Vaughn Hillyard contributed.