An emergency motion has been filed by the state requesting that the Arkansas Supreme Court block a Pulaski County judge's order earlier this month that struck down four laws regulating voting procedures because the judge said the laws were overly restrictive.
The motion, filed by the office of Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge on behalf of Secretary of State John Thurston, accused Pulaski County District Judge Wendell Griffen of abusing his discretion in applying a standard of strict scrutiny to the four laws rather than a more relaxed standard, and called any claim that any of the acts would negatively impact voters "pure speculation."
The laws at issue passed by the General Assembly in 2021 are Act 249, involving voter identification; Act 728, regulating campaigning around the polls; Act 736, affecting how ballots are validated; and Act 973, which sets deadlines for mail-in absentee ballots.
The lawsuit, brought by the League of Women Voters and Arkansas United against Thurston and the State Board of Election Commissioners, claims the laws deliberately make voting harder — and sometimes impossible — for voters who are poor, minorities or have certain health problems.
On March 18, following a four-day bench trial, Griffen ordered a permanent injunction of all four laws.
In granting the permanent injunction, Griffen said Arkansas legislators’ fears of voter fraud could not justify passing laws restricting voting without proof of conduct the laws were purportedly passed to address.
“In the judicial sphere you don’t prove something is illegal just because you’re afraid something might happen,” Griffen said in granting the injunction. “That’s speculation.”
Thurston's motion asks the Supreme Court to issue an immediate temporary stay of Griffen's order before ordering any briefing necessary to consider the matter fully, or to order a response to the motion from the League of Women Voters and Arkansas United by noon Friday.