After a daylong hearing Tuesday on a new law that more than doubles the number of signatures the Libertarian Party must collect in 90 days to get across-the-board access to Arkansas' 2020 ballots, a federal judge took the matter under advisement, indicating a ruling will come in short order.
The party filed a lawsuit March 28 challenging Act 164 of 2019, which had an emergency clause making it effective on Feb. 18, the day Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, signed it into law.
It increases the number of valid petition signatures that "new political parties" must submit to the secretary of state before Sept. 4 to have their candidates listed by party on ballots for the next election.
Throughout the past decade, new political parties had to submit 10,000 signatures to qualify as a recognized political party in the next election.
