Attorneys in the latest Kari Lake election trial made their closing arguments Friday afternoon.
In an attempt to overturn the 2022 election results, Lake’s team has been trying to prove that Maricopa County didn’t properly verify ballot signatures.
Lake’s attorney, Kurt Olsen, told the judge there was simply never enough time to perform signature verification in accordance with state statute, given what he called a "flood" of early ballots that came in.
“The whole purpose of signature verification is to make a comparison of the signature on the ballot envelope with the record signature," Olsen said. "That requires a minimum amount of time in order to accomplish and to comply with the statutory requirement.”
Olsen went on to reference a series of data points appearing to show that some signatures were verified in three seconds or less. But Deputy Maricopa County Attorney Tom Liddy disputed some of the data from Lake's team.
Judge Peter Thompson has already thrown out past claims from Lake about faulty equipment. He’s expected to rule in the next few days.
