By Staff Reporter |
A Maricopa County man was indicted for falsifying signatures for last year’s ballot petition to legalize abortion.
53-year-old Anthony “Tony” Lee Harris — who appears to be registered as a Democrat per voter records — was charged with two felonies and eleven misdemeanors for falsifying the signatures: one count of aggravated taking identity of another, one count of fraudulent schemes and practices, one count of circulator registration violation, and ten counts of petition false signature.
Harris falsified the signatures to help qualify Proposition 139 for the November ballot, or the Arizona Abortion Access Act (AAAA). The proposition passed with over 61 percent of the vote (over two million voters for the measure versus over 1.2 million against).
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell clarified in a press release issued Tuesday that the “dozens” of falsified signatures submitted by Harris weren’t large enough to disqualify the initiative from the ballot.
AAAA activists submitted over 823,000 signatures to qualify the petition for the ballot last July. The secretary of state’s office verified about 578,000 of those signatures. The initiative required just shy of over 384,000 signatures to qualify for the ballot.
Harris was ineligible to work as a petition signature gatherer “despite past convictions,” per the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO). Yet, last April, Harris registered as a circulator for AAAA.
Past arrest records show another individual with the same name and birth date as Harris previously faced charges for armed robbery and kidnapping over a decade ago.
Arizona law prohibits individuals from registering as a circulator if they: have a civil or criminal penalty imposed for violating petition circulation law; have a conviction for treason or a felony and have not had their civil rights restored; or have a criminal offense conviction involving fraud, forgery, or identity theft.
Before the secretary of state considers a circulator to be properly registered, the applicant must submit a notarized affidavit of eligibility.
According to the secretary of state’s circulator portal, Harris worked as a paid circulator for Fieldworks LLC under circulator ID AZ89842. Harris was one of over 2,300 petition circulators paid by Fieldworks for the AAAA petition.
Per his circulator registration, Harris was added to the system on April 19 of last year. The indictment alleges Harris forged the signatures just days after his registration, between April 22 and 27 of last year.
Harris wasn’t the only one indicted this year for falsifying signatures for the abortion ballot initiative. The MCAO indicted another Democrat, Michele Brimmer, 52, with five felonies and nine misdemeanors in association with her alleged crimes. Again, the MCAO said Brimmer’s signatures didn’t impact the qualification of the proposition for the ballot.
“I want to make it clear that the number of signatures we are talking about would not have made a difference as to whether this proposition got on the ballot,” said Mitchell in the February press release announcing Brimmer’s indictment. “That said, we are talking about a case that involved fraudulent signatures placed on an election petition. That is a crime, and it undermines public trust in elections. It will not be tolerated and those who engage in such conduct will be held accountable.”
Brimmer was also a paid circulator for One Fair Wage Action’s initiative, Raise the Wage AZ. The signatures for this initiative were withdrawn following challenges to their validity in August.
AAAA received and spent over $36 million on their initiative, respectively. Over $9.2 million went to Fieldworks for signature gathering.
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