Loading ...HONEY I SHRUNK THE BALLOTS
JC
Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s second day of trial begins today. According to informal reports, her first day of trying to prove election misconduct went well. The best bit seems to be that, after the judge had allowed Kari’s lawyers to inspect fifteen random ballots, Kari’s experts testified that fourteen of the fifteen appeared to be fraudulent.
Kari’s experts determined the problematic election-day ballots had been rejected by electronic tabulators because they’d been shrunk to a 19-inch page size — but printed on 20-inch paper. The visual side-by-side comparisons between the shrunk ballots and regular ones were extremely convincing. Kari’s expert testified there was NO WAY that could’ve happened by accident, and I agree.
It looks like the Maricopa clerk or someone else in authority, cough cough, intentionally modified the ballots so they’d be rejected by electronic scanners and would have to be hand-counted, creating widespread chaos on Election Day.
From the trial videos I’ve seen, Katie Hobb’s lawyers did a poor job of handling Kari’s witnesses and the evidence. For example, take a look at this illustrative clip, and watch how Hobbs’ lawyer completely fell apart after Kari’s witness surprised the lawyer with an answer he didn’t expect:
There’s a simple trial rule — rule number one — that goes, “never ask a witness a question you don’t already know the answer to.” THIS is what happens when lawyers break that rule. The giveaway was him immediately looking down nervously, shuffling his papers desperately trying to figure out what to do, staring in awkward silence, and then barking “no more questions” to contain the damage.
To win, Kari Lake must prove the widespread problems would have resulted in a different outcome. Helpfully, Katie Hobbs’ lawyers asked that critical question, and Kari’s expert nailed it to the courtroom doors. Now it’s evidence.
You might call that, “legal malpractice.” But, before you judge Katie Hobbs’ lawyers too harshly, remember that lawyers don’t build the planes. We just fly them.
Between all that, and the silence of Hobbs supporters, it looks like Kari Lake had a very good day in court yesterday. Still, it’s way too soon to take a victory lap. Since the plaintiff always gets to go first, it always looks good for the first half of trial. Then the defendant gets to put on their case, which normally evens things up.
We’ll see how things go for former Secretary of State Hobbs today.