Yavapai County Superior Court Judge John Napper has ruled that the signature verification methods used by county officials in the Kari Lake and Katie Hobbs statewide election of 2022 were "illegal”.

The Secretary of State did not abide by the state law which is "clear and unambiguous”. The state law requires that only the initial registration signature or party affiliation change may be used, but the "standards” or really a lack there of, allowed basically anything to fly in this election.

This Judge is not buying the Secretary of States excuse that looser verification policies are the norm and have been state wide. This only implies that they’re ok with breaking the law becoming the norm. Not looking good for a defense on intentionally weak voter verification and this’ll be an interesting trial in the near future.

Take a step back and think to yourself… Why would anyone DEFEND bad voter signature verification? That’s not defensible in my mind. Yours? Mail in voting can only be safe when all parties abide by the law and ethics are in place. Unfortunately this is not thencase.

Tim adds

I would add in Washington in 2020 https://www.axios.com/local/seattle/2022/12/19/lawsuit-mail-voting-washington-state and in battleground states as well. Why? Signature matching on mail-in ballots is the only way to determine if th ballots really are legitimate. There is no reason to fight against them in court unless one intends to cheat. As they did.