Kari Lake Arizona governor election trial enters 2nd day: What to know

The director of elections in Maricopa County is expected to continue his testimony Thursday during the second day of former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake’s trial on a claim the county didn’t verify ballot affidavit signatures.

Rey Valenzuela, the director, testified Wednesday on the opening day of trial that he personally checked the signatures on 1,600 early ballot affidavit envelopes to see if they were consistent with what was in a voter’s record.

Valenzuela was called by Lake’s legal team but will be the county’s key witness when it is their turn to present their defense. That could happen Thursday, as Lake’s team has just one other witness to call after Valenzuela.

Day 1 recap:Lake’s witnesses verified voter signatures

The issue for the court is whether Maricopa County followed state law and verified voters’ signatures on ballot affidavit envelopes matched the signatures in their voter record. That process is a key way the county guarantees Arizonans who vote by mail are casting their own ballots.

Lake must prove county workers did not do any verification, but even her own witnesses in the case testified Wednesday they participated in that work.

How the Kari Lake lawsuit has progressed through courts

Lake, the Republican nominee for governor and a former television news anchor, in December filed a lawsuit challenging her loss to Democrat Katie Hobbs by about 17,000 votes. Her team presented evidence during a two-day trial in December, but Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson found no grounds to declare Lake the winner.

The Court of Appeals affirmed his decision, and the Arizona Supreme Court largely did as well, though it sent the single signature verification issue back to Thompson for reconsideration, saying he used the wrong legal reasoning to dismiss the count. That is what led to the trial that began Wednesday.

During a full day of testimony in Thompson’s Mesa courtroom, however, Lake’s lawyers called two signature verifiers to the stand who talked about the work they did to verify signatures. Lake’s team is expected to call another witness Thursday to talk about examining signatures and the time it takes to do so.

Reach reporter Stacey Barchenger at stacey.barchenger@arizonarepublic.com or 480-416-5669. Follow her on Twitter @sbarchenger.