'Absolute mess': Conservative's ballot petition full of fake addresses and forged names

Libertarian candidate Michelle Martin could face a big problem with her attempt to qualify for Arizona's First Congressional District race: a ballot petition appears to be loaded with invalid signatures, ABC15's Garrett Archer reported Monday.

"This absolute mess of a candidate nomination petition is for Michelle Martin, libertarian candidate for #AZ01," wrote Archer in a lengthy post on X. "There are probably 1.5k signatures here and I would not be surprised if not one of them is valid. This sheet as an example: None of the addresses exist as written, the names are all middle and last and those signatures are all done by the same person. Nearly every sheet is a variation of this."

According to a new report, many of the names appear to be on the ballot without the knowledge of those people; Archer called several of the voters named on the petition, "showed them the signature they allegedly signed with, and they ... categorically denied it was their signature."

"Even if there are real voters here and there spot checking is a disaster," wrote Archer. "Of the voters I can find that 'signed' the petition, most are either Republicans or Democrats. In a decade of politics I've never seen anything like this. Even the signatures of the circulators look like they could be forgeries. Someone just went through the voter file and mined for names and addresses. The circulator even changes their style depending on the day."

Martin, a registered Republican, has reportedly not yet offered comment on the story, with Archer planning to reach out to her.

Arizona's First District, which encompasses Scottsdale and other suburbs northeast of Phoenix, is represented by Republican David Schweikert.

The lawmaker has been subject to a scathing ethics investigation over his payments to a consulting firm operated by his chief of staff, which led in 2020 to tens of thousands of dollars in fines and almost caused him to be formally censured.