Kari Lake's Plan to Make Arizona Senate Run Bulletproof

Kari Lake, the Republican Arizona Senate hopeful, asked her supporters to sign a petition to get her on next year's ballot so she can prove the legitimacy of her bid and to build up a "mailing list," experts told Newsweek.

Lake, who confirmed she's running for the seat currently held by Democrat-turned Independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema, recently posted a video on social media stating: "I need your help getting on the ballot," while sharing a link to an online petition for registered voters to sign.

Nomination petitions are common in elections across the country to prove a candidate has enough support to be on ballots. Under Arizona law, if a candidate is seeking to run for the U.S. Senate, they must get the signatures of at least one-fourth of one percent of the total registered voters in the state to qualify for being on the ballots.

Lake confirmed her Senate bid for Arizona on October 10, following months of speculation she would announce her intention to run in the 2024 election.

While there is still a chance the Donald Trump-endorsed candidate still hasn't gained the relatively small amount of signatures needed to get on the ballot, David Schultz, a professor of political science and legal studies at Hamline University, suggested there are "several reasons" why Lake—who has long claimed without evidence that her 2020 gubernatorial election defeat to Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs was due to voting irregularities—may want to get her Senate support clear in terms of numbers.

"Given she is an election skeptic and claims she lost the last election because of fraud, she wants proof beyond proof that she has qualified for the ballot and therefore there is no way election officials in the state can say she did not qualify," Schultz told Newsweek.

"She may fear retaliation from election officials from all her lawsuits and therefore wants to guard against them pushing her off the ballot or saying she does not qualify. Also, more signatures means lists of more potential supporters who may give her money or support."

Schultz also noted that in Arizona, voters can't sign a candidacy petition for more than one person running in the same race.

"She may be trying to get enough signatures to prevent or make it harder for other Republicans or candidates to get on the ballot," Schultz added.

Stefanie Lindquist, a professor of law and political sciences in the School of Global Politics and the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, suggested Lake may be trying to "generate a mailing list" with her petition calls, rather than seeking to raise the number of signatures she currently has.

Lake's office has been contacted for comment via email.

According to an early October poll from National Research Inc., Lake would come out on top in a hypothetical three-way Arizona Senate race between herself, Sinema, who hasn't confirmed she will seek reelection, and Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego.

The survey of 400 voters showed Lake leading on 37 percent, with Gallego on 22 percent and Sinema on 19 percent. However, in a head to head between Lake and Gallego, both candidates were tied on 44 percent.

According to FiveThirtyEight, Gallego is the favorite to win the 2024 Arizona Senate seat in virtually all other polls released this year, with a Noble Predictive Insights survey in August showing that the Democrat held a 10-point lead in a hypothetical face-off against just Lake.