Michelle Martin, a Libertarian candidate running against Representative David Schweikert (R-AZ-01), dropped out of the race after at least four voters said someone illegally signed her petition with their signatures.
Martin’s paperwork revealed that a registered Democrat named Jeremy Garrett, along with four other registered Democrats, was one of the petition signature gatherers. Garrett works as an electoral campaign manager at the Arizona progressive group Our Voice Our Vote (OVOV).
Schweikert told The Arizona Sun Times that this is clearly fraud and needs to be prosecuted. He said it has been referred to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.
The Arizona Republic spoke with the four voters, who denied signing the petitions. One of them, Stephen Riordan, told the newspaper, “That is definitely not me. Not even close to my signature. That’s very upsetting.”
Shannon Speagle, another resident whose signature was allegedly forged, told the newspaper she asked four other people if their signatures were forged on the petitions, and they said yes.
OVOV’s mission statement says it is “committed to advocating for sustainable progressive public policies.”
Its goals include economic justice, racial justice, and voter justice.
“We believe all Arizonans should have fair access to the ballot box,” the section on voting states. “We fight to expand the electorate and remove barriers to participation so that everyone has a voice in democracy.” Its activities include voter registration.
There is a quote from Democratic activist Van Jones on the site, the Arizona Coalition for Change (ACC) is featured, and the site contains a statement about the police that says “No more tear gas.” There is no mention of the Libertarian Party.
According to ACC’s website, the organization is “a Black-led organization with a dynamic multicultural team that empowers everyday people to transform their community through building civic power, leadership development, and community collaboration.”
The Republic said Garrett denied collecting signatures for the campaign. His LinkedIn description also states he is a program coordinator at the ACC. The organization boasts on its website that it “made history in winning a preliminary injunction to extend the voter registration deadline” in the 2020 election. This allowed over 42,000 Arizonans to register to vote, regardless of party, and catalyzed one more step towards creating equity in our democratic process.” ACC’s programs include a clean energy campaign.
Libertarians tend to take away more votes from Republicans than Democrats, often spoiling races. In 2022, Republicans convinced Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate Marc Victor to drop out of the race because they believed it was hurting Republican candidate Blake Masters. Victor dropped out after early ballots had already begun being mailed, and Masters lost to incumbent Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ).
Libertarian candidate Mark Siarto dropped out of a race for the U.S. House in Arizona’s 6th Congressional District rather than facing a challenge to his petitions. Libertarian candidate Michael Eaton dropped out of a race for the Arizona House of Representatives in District 9.
Merissa Hamilton, co-founder of EZAZ, told The Sun Times that progressives running sham Libertarian candidates is a known problem.
“When I was previously an officer of the Maricopa County Libertarian Party, I was told by a candidate that frequently ran for the Governor’s race that Democrat operatives pay to collect their signatures,” she said. “The left happily uses the Libertarian Party ballot access in the hopes they will peel away that precious 2% of votes from candidates with an R next to their name as a vehicle to drive Marxism across the finish line.”
“Unfortunately, too many well-meaning Libertarians violate their values and fall for the scam as a quick fix to avoid the labor of spreading their message of freedom directly to voters. Freedom is hard. If you aren’t willing to do the work to fight for your ideology by changing hearts and minds without coercion, force or fraud, why should the public vote for you,” she added.”
The Cook Political Report labeled the race a tossup. Redistricting for 2022 decreased the slight Republican voter advantage in the district. The Fountain Hills Times Independent reported last year, “What has been a relatively safe seat the past 10 years for Congressman David Schweikert, a Republican of Fountain Hills, is now considered one of the most competitive Congressional Districts in the state based on the final version of new redistricting maps approved by the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC).”
Schweikert won reelection in 2022 by just over 3,000 votes. Despite being in a district that has been fairly competitive, he defeated an incumbent Democrat in 2010 when he first took office.
The representative has a lifetime rating of 94.63 from the American Conservative Union.
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “David Schweikert” by David Schweikert.
