Ex-leader at Charlie Kirk's Turning Point Action offered deal in election fraud case

Former Arizona legislator Austin Smith has been offered a plea deal in a multiple-felony criminal case that alleges he personally forged numerous voter signatures on his own petitions for reelection.

Smith was indicted in June by a Maricopa County grand jury on four felony counts for presenting documents he knew were forged to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office, in addition to 10 misdemeanor counts for personally forging the names of electors on his reelection petitions.

The Republican from Surprise was a member of the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus, which has a history of spreading false claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election and pushed for election law changes in the state legislature.

At the time he was indicted, Smith was strategic director of Turning Point Action, Turning Point USA’s advocacy arm. TPUSA is a far-right organization based in Phoenix that aims to mobilize young conservatives founded by Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed last week while speaking to a group of college students in Utah.

During a Sept. 10 court hearing, state prosecutor Todd Lawson told the court that the state had offered Smith a plea deal. Both Lawson and Kurt Altman, the attorney representing Smith, said they were hopeful they might soon reach an agreement to avoid a trial.

After Smith was accused in April 2024 of forging more than 100 voter signatures and addresses — which all blatantly look like they were written by the same person — on his reelection petition, he vehemently denied the allegations. He called them “ludicrous” and accused Democrats of creating a “coordinated attack” against him.

But some of the people whose names were on the petition told the court that they never signed it. One woman whose name and alleged signature appeared on Smith’s petition died a week before the signing date. A different woman’s name was misspelled.

A former member of the Arizona House of Representatives Municipal Oversight and Elections Committee, Smith dropped his reelection bid shortly after the fraud allegations were made public. He also reportedly resigned from his job at Turning Point Action.

At the time, Smith, who was gearing up to run for a second term in the Arizona House of Representatives, said that he only dropped out of the race because he didn’t want to deal with the legal hassle or possible court costs to defend himself in a civil election petition challenge.

But Altman made it clear during last week’s hearing that Smith was considering the state’s plea offer. The details of the offer were not disclosed, as is usual until an agreement has been reached.

If the case goes to trial, Smith could face up to two years in prison for each felony and six months for each misdemeanor. If he is convicted of a felony, Smith would also lose his voting rights and be barred from running for public office until he’s served his sentence, including any probation, and had his rights restored.

Turning Point Action never responded to the Arizona Mirror’s request in June to confirm whether Smith still worked there. After news articles about the indictment were published, Smith made his social media accounts private and his name was partially scrubbed from the organization’s website.

Both Lawson and Altman told the court last week that they expected to know whether they could reach a plea agreement within 60 days. The next court date in the case is set for Nov. 13.

If the parties don’t reach an agreement by that date, Lawson said they might either schedule a settlement conference to work things out or begin to prepare for a trial, which is set for Feb. 26.