A defamation lawsuit can proceed against former Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate and current Senate candidate Kari Lake, according to a Maricopa County judge's ruling.
Lake did not provide enough evidence to have the defamation case filed by Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer outright dismissed under Arizona law, Judge Jay Adleman ruled last week.
"The court is satisfied that the disputed statements – if indeed they are 'provable' as false or defamatory – would be undeserving of the protections associated with our First Amendment principles," he wrote.
Richer, who is also a Republican, alleged that Lake and her allies falsely claimed that he was responsible for intentionally printing incorrect ballots and that he inserted 300,000 illegal ballots into the Maricopa County 2022 election.