The Arkansas Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion Thursday in a lawsuit about voting and ballot amendments. All seven justices agreed to throw out the suit.
For a proposed amendment to the Arkansas Constitution to pass, groups have to follow a three step process. First, they have to get the language approved by the attorney general, which usually takes a few attempts. Then, they have to collect tens of thousands of signatures from over 50 counties to place the proposal on the ballot. Then a majority of voters have to approve it to become law.
In November, a conservative group called the Arkansas Voter Integrity Commission' got stuck on the first step. They tried to get two proposals approved by the attorney general; both would have regulated how voting is done in Arkansas.
The first would have forced all elections to be done with paper ballots and made it harder to vote absentee. Attorney General Tim Griffin rejected the proposals saying they are worded in an unclear way and suggested they phrase their proposals differently.
Clinton W. Lancaster is a lawyer representing the group. Before the verdict was announced, he said in an email to Little Rock Public Radio that they:“did not like the way he rewrote it because it made significant changes.”
The Arkansas Voter Integrity Commission sued Secretary of State John Thurston, saying their constitutional rights were violated.
The Arkansas Supreme Court threw the case out on procedural grounds, saying they did not have jurisdiction to bring the lawsuit. Griffin said the verdict “is a tremendous victory for the people of Arkansas and the ability of citizens to cast votes on questions that are not vague or misleading.”
