13 allegations of candidate (R) petition signature forgery forwarded for possible criminal charges

The Arizona Secretary of State’s Office has referred 13 cases of potential candidate petition signature fraud to the attorney general for investigation, including allegations that Republican Rep. Austin Smith personally forged voter signatures.

The Secretary of State’s Office also pointed out what it said was a glaring case of candidate petition signature forgery, allegedly by a petition circulator for Yuma state Rep. Michele Peña, a Republican.

Candidates for elected office in Arizona must collect a certain number of nomination petition signatures from registered voters they hope to represent to qualify for the ballot. The number of signatures required depends on which office the person is running for, but candidates typically attempt to gather at least 30% more signatures than needed because it’s a given that some of those signatures will be disqualified.

The deadline to file a civil court case challenging the petition signatures gathered for candidates looking to get on this year’s July primary ballot was April 15. In all, 21 challenges were brought against Arizona candidates for the U.S. and state legislatures and nine of those candidates have already dropped their bids for office.



https://azmirror.com/2024/04/25/13-allegations-of-candidate-petition-signature-forgery-forwarded-for-possible-criminal-charges/