Austin Smith
PHOENIX – Attorney General Kris Mayes announced that Austin Cole Smith, age 30 of Buckeye, was sentenced last week after entering two guilty pleas in Maricopa County Superior Court. Judge Aryeh Schwartz sentenced Smith to two years of supervised probation, he is ineligible to run for public office for five years, and must pay $5,000 fine with 10% surcharge.
“If you try to illegally manipulate Arizona’s elections or mislead Arizona voters, you will be held accountable under the law,” said Attorney General Mayes. “There are real consequences for cheating the system.”
Smith previously entered a guilty plea to attempted fraudulent schemes and practices, a class six undesignated offense, and illegal signing of election petitions, a class 1 misdemeanor. As a part of his guilty plea, 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.
