Arkansas Supreme Court upholds election rule changes made in 2021

The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday (May 16) upheld four state laws that placed new limits and rules on election procedures. The court’s majority opinion reversed a ruling from Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffin who had overturned the provisions.

The laws, approved by the Arkansas Legislature in 2021, were Acts 249, 728, 736 and 973 of 2021. While complex, the Acts establish the following new procedures.
• County clerks must verify a signature on an absentee ballot with the voter’s registration signature.

• Reduce the time for delivery of in-person absentee ballots.

• Voters submitting a provisional ballot must show a photo ID by the Monday after the vote or the ballot will be rejected.

• People will not be allowed to loiter or stand within 100 feet of a polling site.

The rules were implemented following allegations of widespread irregularities in the 2020 general election. More than 60 legal challenges and numerous investigations found no validity to the claims of election fraud.

Associate Justice Cody Hiland, who wrote the majority opinion, said the plaintiffs failed to show that the new laws infringed upon voter rights.

“Upon examination of the plain language of the Acts, it is clear the fundamental right to vote is not at stake here; thus, the State was not required to prove a compelling state interest. … The circuit court’s conclusion that strict scrutiny applied across the board to these four Acts was an error of law,” Hiland noted.

Justices Dan Kemp, Barbara Webb and Shawn Womack concurred with HIland. In his conclusion, Hiland said it was wrong for Judge Griffen to rule that the laws were unconstitutional.

“Given the procedural posture of Appellees’ argument constituting a facial challenge, and because we cannot say there is a clear incompatibility between the Act and the constitution, it was thus improper for this Act to be struck as unconstitutional,” Hiland wrote.

Hiland, former chairman of the Republican Party of Arkansas, was appointed July 3 by Gov. Sarah Sanders to the court to fill a vacancy left by the death of Justice Robin Wynne. Hiland, also a former state and federal prosecutor, will serve until January 2025 after voters choose a new justice in the 2024 election cycle. Hiland will not be eligible to run for the open seat.

The League of Women Voters, a plaintiff in the case brought before the Pulaski County Circuit Court, called the court’s ruling “a disappointing blow to voting rights in our state.”

“We are still thoroughly reviewing the ruling to fully understand its implications. However, it is evident that these laws – requiring election officials to engage in the arbitrary and error-prone process of matching a voter’s signature on their absentee ballot application to the voter’s signature on their original voter registration application, unjustifiably shortening absentee ballot turn-in deadlines, essentially doing away with provisional ballots, and prohibiting anyone except voters from entering or remaining within 100 feet of a polling place (even to accompany or support a voter) – will continue to pose significant challenges to voters, particularly older Arkansans and those living in rural areas,” the League noted in a statement.