A federal judge has set a mid-February bench trial to hear the state Libertarian Party's complaint that it was forced into an unnecessarily early nominating convention in October.
The deadline required the Libertarian Party, the only minor political party to obtain recognition for ballot status in Arkansas in the 2015-16 election cycle, to choose its candidates four months ahead of the March 1 primary at which voters will select candidates for the Democrat and Republican parties.
That, the Libertarian Party said in an October lawsuit, "substantially limits the time for Libertarian voters in Arkansas to find out who their candidates are and participate in the political process with the candidates" while the other state voters are vetting the candidates for the two major parties.
