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

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