Ari­zona Repub­li­can drops re-elec­tion bid amid pos­si­ble peti­tion forgery inves­ti­ga­tion

(The Cen­ter Square) – Ari­zona Rep. Austin Smith with­drew his can­di­da­cy for re-elec­tion after a sig­na­ture chal­lenge alleged that some sig­na­tures on his nom­i­nat­ing peti­tion were forged.
“It seemed ludi­crous because Repub­li­cans try­ing to get on the bal­lot don’t seek Demo­c­rat sig­na­tures and would have no rea­son to forge Demo­c­rat sig­na­tures since they don’t count,” he said in a state­ment on Thurs­day morn­ing. “Nev­er­the­less, it was some­thing I took seri­ous­ly because the coor­di­nat­ed attack includ­ed press releas­es a …