Republican numbskull Austin Cole Smith has pleaded guilty to blatantly forging signatures on a petition to get on the ballot in LD29. He was the Strategic Director of Turning Point Action, who spent years claiming widespread election fraud, only to be one of the few people found guilty of election fraud himself.
“Can’t make this shit up. Grifters gonna grift right?” said Drew Chavez, the owner of a signature-gathering company.
Smith, a MAGA stooge, forged the names of dead people and added the names of people in the easily-seen identical handwriting. He needed 200 signatures and faked 100 of them.
Smith, age 30 of Buckeye, had been a one-term Republican in LD29, in the west valley of Phoenix. He assumed office on Jan. 9, 2023, and left office on Jan. 13, 2025.
He built his political career on false election conspiracy theories and frequently accused election officials of fraud. His campaign literature supported a Republican-backed review of the 2020 presidential election, which ended without any proof of the false claim of a stolen election.
He was a member of the far-right “freedom caucus” that spread false claims of election fraud in 2020 and called for limiting the right to vote.
“Forging signatures, including those of people who have died, in order to get yourself on the ballot is illegal, and it erodes trust in our elections,” said Attorney General Mayes. “My office will continue to hold accountable anyone who tries to cheat the system and mislead Arizona voters.”
Turning Point, where Smith was also the National Field Director for Students For Trump, is in decline. Without a jabbering, bickering villain like the dead Charlie Kirk, TP is less interesting to MAGA sycophants. Today, it is led by Kirk’s wife, Erika, a Millennial fashion model with the piety of a Sunday school teacher.
Smith will be sentenced on Jan. 6, 2025, and, under a plea deal, faces a 5-year prohibition on seeking public office, a $5,500 fine, and a term of probation. This is a pretty light punishment for this total crooked bonehead.
“Jeez, he made no effort to make them (signature) different,” said James Ashurst of Goodyear regarding the fake signatures Smith submitted. “I mean, come on, man. No effort.” Ashurst was the plaintiff in a 2024 court complaint against Smith.
Arizona House Democratic leader Rep. Oscar De Los Santos responded to the guilty plea with an all-caps message to “ARREST THE ILLEGALS.”
Discover more from Blog for Arizona
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
“Smith will be sentenced on Jan. 6, 2025” ? Do you mean 2026?
One would have to be utterly daft to not see how many of these scumbags they’re are in Arizona. They wear it on their sleeves, fly the flags on their vehicles. Decal drunks. One decal that I recall well states “Black Guns Matter” believe people on what they are so crass about. They seem to think they are “Patriots” Beware of any individuals claiming to be “Patriots” What truly are is Hatetriots. Racists, petulant liars looking for some kind of twisted affirmations. They will steal, lie and cheat on everyone and everything. Turning Point is an utter embarrassment to the State of Arizona. All white, all full of indifference and a pension for indoctrination. Their movement is a sick one, a movement that subscribes to the darkest Confederate hearts.The KKK is alive and well in their evil hearts. It’s beyond disgusting, it’s carnival barkers for holding back progress. The old West is as dead as passed time. There is an allotment of men and women here that cling to being uneducated and ignorance. Expose them, defy them and may the rest of us who refuse to live in delusion continue to march on.