A self-proclaimed “election integrity crusader,” Austin Cole Smith, entered two guilty pleas in Maricopa County Superior Court this morning as a part of an agreement to resolve the felony case announced earlier this year.
The 30-year-old Smith, a former Arizona State Representative for District 29 from 2023-2025, was indicted by the State Grand Jury in June, 2025, for 14 criminal counts – including 4 felonies – involving forged candidate nomination petitions for his 2024 re-election campaign. The petitions were filed by Smith with the Arizona Secretary of State in March of 2024, with Smith signing the back of a number of those petitions indicating that he had circulated them.
As a part of his guilty plea today, Smith admitted signing the name of a deceased woman on one of his candidate nomination petitions in March of 2024. He also admitted that he attempted to deceive the Secretary of State’s Office by knowingly filing petitions containing forged signatures of purported supporters of his nomination for the Republican primary for State Representative from LD 29.
The agreement entered includes an agreement that Smith will be sentenced to a term of probation, a fine of at least $5,500.00, and a five-year prohibition on seeking public office. Certain terms of plea agreements are not binding on the Court, and may be subject to potential rejection at the time Smith is sentenced.
Smith is scheduled to appear for sentencing before Judge Aryeh Schwartz of the Maricopa County Superior Court on Tuesday, January 6, 2026, at 9:30am.
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