Turning Point Action senior director and Arizona state Rep. Austin Smith was named last week in a complaint alleging that he forged dozens of signatures, names, and addresses on his petitions to qualify for the state’s GOP primary ballot in July, quickly sparking a scandal that led the candidate to drop out of the race and resign from his position at TP Action just days later.

Yet, for all of right-wing media’s handwringing about voter fraud in recent election cycles, a Media Matters analysis found no mentions of those allegations between April 15-23 on Fox News, One America News, and Newsmax — conservative cable outlets that have repeatedly peddled and fixated on debunked instances of supposed voter fraud.

An Arizona state representative and Turning Point Action official has been accused of forging signatures on a ballot qualification petition

According to an April 15 complaint filed by one of Smith’s constituents in state Superior Court, the first-term lawmaker “personally circulated multiple petition sheets bearing what appear to be forged voter signatures” in handwriting that bore a “striking resemblance” to his own. Additionally, several purported signers provided declarations claiming that they never signed Smith’s petitions. 

In a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter) on April 18, Smith refuted the allegations and announced that he would withdraw his candidacy to avoid the legal fees required to defend himself in court. (That same day, Smith resigned from his position at Turning Point Action.) He also claimed that the complaint was part of a “coordinated attack” and a “well-organized effort.”

But as Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts noted, “If, in fact, this was some Democratic conspiracy to chase an innocent man from the Legislature, it’s curious that Smith wouldn’t defend himself. More curious still is the fact that not a single Republican legislator has called for his resignation in light of his refusal to answer allegations of election fraud.”

Smith repeatedly claimed that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump, and on the eve of the January 6, 2021, insurrection — in a now-deleted post on X — Smith reportedly urged his followers to not “get comfortable” and “fight like hell.” 

In a recent post, Smith promoted a colleague running against Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican official scorned by pro-Trump figures for pushing back on false election fraud narratives in his county. 

“We need to clean house in Maricopa County,” Smith wrote. “Stephen Richer failed. We must restore trust in our most basic institution. Elections.”

In past election cycles, Fox, Newsmax, and OAN have promoted baseless voter fraud claims

All three networks that seemingly ignored the allegations against Smith have repeatedly promoted false claims of voter fraud in past elections, including claims that Arizona elections have been marred by rampant voter fraud. 

• One America News called the Arizona 2022 midterm elections “the biggest experiment in election fraud ever perpetrated on the American public.” The network also regularly promoted Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen, including his call for a “new election” in 2022, and promoted a bogus “forensic audit” of the 2020 Maricopa County election results. 
• Newsmax figures have repeatedly tried to discredit the 2020 election. In 2021, for instance, Newsmax host Greg Kelly alleged that Biden “stole the election,” and argued that “Trump should not concede because he didn’t lose.” After an on-air conversation about the Arizona audit, host Grant Stinchfield declared Trump to be the rightful president. 
• In 2020, Fox pushed a debunked conspiracy theory about the use of Sharpie pens for marking ballots in Maricopa County. In 2022, the network fearmongered about election fraud in its coverage of the 2022 Arizona midterms. Some of the network’s hosts have already predicted that the 2024 election will be stolen, claiming that Democrats are going to “game the system” and “mess with the election.”

Methodology

Media Matters searched transcripts in the SnapStream video database for all original programming on Fox News Channel, Newsmax TV, and One America News Network for any of the terms “Arizona,” “AZ,” “Maricopa,” “Wittman,” “Surprise,” or “district” within close proximity to any of the terms “rep,” “representative,” “Smith,” or “Austin” from April 15, 2024, when James Ashurst, a constituent, filed a complaint against Arizona House Rep. Austin Smith for signature fraud, through April 23, 2024.

We timed segments, which we defined as instances when Ashurst's complaint filed against Smith for forgery of nomination signatures for his 2024 reelection campaign was the stated topic of discussion or when we found significant discussion of the complaint or underlying conduct. We defined significant discussion as instances when two or more speakers in a multitopic segment discussed the complaint or underlying conduct with one another.

We also timed mentions, which we defined as instances when a single speaker in a segment on another topic mentioned the complaint or the underlying conduct without another speaker in the segment engaging with the comment, and teasers, which we defined as instances when a single speaker in a segment on another topic mentioned the complaint or the underlying conduct without another speaker in the segment engaging with the comment.

We rounded all times to the nearest minute.