Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake has once again failed to convince Arizona judges that she was the true winner of the 2022 gubernatorial election.

An Arizona Court of Appeals panel on Tuesday ruled against Lake’s appeal of a December 2022 ruling from Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Peter Thompson which declared Gov. Katie Hobbs had won the election.

Judge Sean Brearcliffe, one of the judges on the panel, noted in the ruling that Lake argued that more than 8,000 ballots were “maliciously misconfigured to cause a tabulator rejection” and were not counted.

“The trial court rejected Lake’s assertion that 8,000 ‘affected’ votes means 8,000 uncounted votes, and, based on the evidence presented at oral argument, found that Lake’s argument was an ‘unsupported bare assertion,’” according to the appeals court.

The three-judge panel also pointed out Lake had lost the election by about 17,000 votes to Hobbs, a Democrat. Brearcliffe noted that the gap between Lake and Hobbs would not have been closed, regardless of the ruling.

“Moreover, and perhaps most important, the vote differential between Lake and Hobbs in the election was over 17,000 votes. Even if 8,000 uncounted votes had all gone to Lake, it would have been insufficient to overcome this differential,” Brearcliffe said.

The court also warned that ruling in Lake’s favor could cause havoc on election challenges in the future, potentially disrupting the balance between “accuracy and finality.”

Case led Lake’s lawyer to be sanctioned for lying

Bryan Blehm, an attorney who represented Lake in her 2022 suit, recently received a 60-day ban from practicing law for lying in the case.

He was also fined by the Arizona Supreme Court for his statements made in Lake’s defense, claiming it was “undisputed fact” that nearly 36,000 ballots were added to the results leading to Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs’ victory by about 17,000 votes. Even the Arizona Supreme Court had made clear there was no evidence to back up Blehm’s claim.

When his license is reinstated, Blehm will be on probation for one year. Blehm will also have to do five hours of additional continuing legal education in ethics and professional responsibility, “preferably regarding litigation conduct and advocacy,” the order reads.

Tuesday’s loss is the latest in a string of defeats for Lake’s campaign of election denialism, with one of the most famous ones coming earlier this year in the Supreme Court of the United States.

Arizona Republic reporter Stacey Barchenger contributed to this article.

Reach the reporter at fernando.cervantes@arizonarepublic.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Kari Lake rejected by Arizona court in 2022 gubernatorial election appeal