Ex-Arizona lawmaker (R) who questioned election integrity to be sentenced for using forged signatures

[RandySF]

PHOENIX (AP) — A former Republican lawmaker who questioned the integrity of Arizona’s elections and served as a leader for the conservative group Turning Point Action is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday for using nominating petitions that contained forged signatures in a bid to qualify for a 2024 primary election.

Austin Smith, 30, pleaded guilty in mid-November to charges of attempted fraudulent schemes and practices, and illegal signing of election petitions. He had acknowledged trying to use petitions with forged signatures that he knew were false and forging a dead woman’s signature on a nominating petition.

Smith represented an Arizona House district in the Phoenix suburbs for one term before dropping his reelection bid in April 2024 when questions arose about signatures on his nominating petitions.

He resigned at the time as a leader at Turning Point Action, the campaign arm of Turning Point USA, which has become a major force in Arizona Republican politics. His bio page said Smith was approached in 2019 by Turning Point co-founder Charlie Kirk and Tyler Bowyer, another top leader for the group, about launching Turning Point Action.



https://lufkindailynews.com/anpa/us/ex-arizona-lawmaker-who-questioned-election-integrity-to-be-sentenced-for-using-forged-signatures/article_04b1a9dd-3006-5062-83a4-1e68f6949975.html

[marble falls]

1. I guess he knew whereof what he spoke. Jail time with a little kicker for being a mook. Chalkie Birk, ...

... now where have I heard his name ... hey look! A squirrel!


https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/ex-arizona-lawmaker-guilty-attempted-election-fraud-40622084/

Former Republican state legislator Austin Smith pleaded guilty Monday to what he previously called “ludicrous” charges that he personally forged more than 100 signatures on his petitions for reelection last year.

-snip-

Smith pleaded guilty to the reduced charges as part of a plea agreement that gives him the possibility of avoiding a felony conviction. In Arizona law, when a person without a criminal history is found guilty of a low-level felony, the judge can wait until that person’s probation is finished before designating the crime a felony or misdemeanor. Essentially, that means if Smith completes any probation he’s sentenced to without violations, his conviction could be classified a misdemeanor instead of a felony.

And that’s important, because felons in Arizona can’t vote or hold elected office unless their rights are restored by a judge.

Per the plea agreement, Smith is to be sentenced to probation, a fine of at least $5,500 and will be banned for five years from seeking public office. But according to the attorney general, some terms of the plea agreement are nonbinding and could be rejected by the sentencing judge.

-snip-

[marble falls]

2. An unlocked link to the Phoenix Chronicle with the same story ...

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/ex-arizona-lawmaker-guilty-attempted-election-fraud-40622084/