A retired U.S. Army colonel, Conrad Reynolds of Conway, and the non-profit Arkansas Voter Integrity Initiative that he leads filed a complaint Tuesday asking the Arkansas Supreme Court to certify the sufficiency of the proposed ballot language for a constitutional amendment to require elections in Arkansas to be conducted with paper ballots, and for a constitutional amendment to impose certain limitations on absentee voting.
The complaint is filed against Republican Secretary of State John Thurston and the state Board of Election Commissioners, which Thurston chairs.
The Restore Election Integrity Arkansas ballot committee has proposed both of the constitutional amendments.
Reynolds' and the Arkansas Voter Integrity Initiative's complaint seeks the state Supreme Court's certification of the proposed popular names and ballot titles for the two proposed constitutional amendments. Reynolds, who unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Rep. French Hill of Little Rock in the 2014 and 2022 Republican primaries, is the committee's chief operating officer.
In the complaint, Reynolds and the Arkansas Voter Integrity Initiative ask for the state Supreme Court to declare unconstitutional a 2023 state law that requires the attorney general to consider certifying proposed ballot language for ballot measures, and a 2023 state law that requires petitions for proposed ballot measures to have signatures of registered voters in at least 50 counties rather than at least 15 counties.
Act 376 of 2019 shifted the responsibility of certifying a proposed ballot measure's popular name and ballot title from the attorney general to the state Board of Election Commissioners before Act 194 of 2023 shifted the responsibility back to the attorney general.
The complaint claims Arkansas Code Annotated 7-9-126 (e) and 7-9-107 conflict with Article 5, Section 1 of the Arkansas Constitution. The complaint asks the high court to expedite this case on its docket, enjoin the enforcement of the two state laws, and to issue a temporary restraining order and permanent injunction.
Attorney General Tim Griffin said Tuesday in a written statement that "This lawsuit has no merit, and I look forward to defending the law and the Secretary of State in court."
Jaime Land, a spokeswoman for Thurston, said Tuesday in a written statement that "Due to pending litigation, we have no comment at this time."
On Nov. 29, the Republican attorney general rejected the Restore Election Integrity Arkansas' committee's first version of proposed ballot language for its proposed constitutional amendment to require elections in Arkansas to be conducted with paper ballots, and for the committee's first version of proposed ballot language for its proposed Arkansas constitutional amendment imposing certain restrictions on absentee voting.
The committee submitted its second versions of the proposed constitutional amendments to the attorney general's office on Dec. 26, and submitted them to the state Board of Election Commissioners on Dec. 27, according to the complaint filed by Reynolds and the Arkansas Voter Integrity Initiative. Attorney Clint Lancaster represents Reynolds and the Arkansas Voter Integrity Initiative.
The complaint states that the state Board of Election Commission announced on Jan. 4 its refusal to certify the proposed ballot language for the proposed measures to the secretary of state, and the secretary of state on Jan. 8 refused to certify the proposed ballot language for the proposed measures.
Certifying the proposal's popular name and ballot title for each of its proposals would clear the way for the Restore Election Integrity Arkansas committee to begin collecting signatures of registered voters in an effort to qualify the proposed constitutional amendments for the 2024 general election ballot. Sponsors of proposed constitutional amendments are required to submit 90,704 signatures of registered voters to the secretary of state's office by July 5, 2024.
In a 4-3 ruling in December, the Arkansas Supreme Court authorized expedited consideration of the Arkansas Voter Integrity Initiative's appeal of a Pulaski County circuit judge's dismissal of the group's lawsuit challenging the legality of the state's ballot-counting machines.
State Supreme Court Justices Cody Hiland, Barbara Webb, Shawn Womack and Rhonda Wood opted to grant the group's motion to expedite consideration of the group's appeal of Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox's ruling in September, according to court records. Justices Dan Kemp, Courtney Hudson and Karen Baker dissented.
Reynolds' group has been advocating for Arkansas counties to switch to hand-marked and hand-counted ballots.