Arkansas Supreme Court affirms circuit court decision in voting machine lawsuit

Voters cast their ballots at a polling location at Sequoyah United Methodist Church in Fayetteville on March 5, 2024. (Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate)

The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit that argued voting machines do not comply with state law. 

Arkansas Voter Integrity Initiative Inc. and its CEO Conrad Reynolds filed the lawsuit against Secretary of State John Thurston, the State Board of Election Commissioners and Election Systems and Software LLC in December 2022. A Pulaski County circuit judge dismissed AVII and Reynolds’ amended complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief last year. 

The appellants argued that because voters can’t read barcodes on printed ballots and the voting machine tabulator only scans the barcodes, voters cannot verify their vote selections as required by Arkansas law.

State law requires that voting machines permit voters to independently verify their ballots. Voters also must have the opportunity to change the ballot or correct an error before the ballot is cast.

Writing for the majority, Associate Justice Courtney Rae Hudson pointed to testimony from Daniel Shults, former director of the State Board of Election Commissioners, that described how voters can review and change their votes on the machine prior to printing their ballot as justices’ reason for affirming the circuit court’s ruling. 

“The voter-verification requirement in § 7-5-504 for the ‘voting machine’ is accomplished because the statute is not specific as to which device or step in the process that the ballot review must occur, as long as the voter has the opportunity,” according to Thursday’s ruling. 

“We cannot ignore the definition the General Assembly provided. If we were to accept appellants’ argument, these statutory provisions would be rendered ineffective, and we will not interpret statutory language in such a manner.”

Associate Justice Shawn Womack concurred without opinion, while Associate Justice Barbara Webb dissented. 

“This is a win for the voters and taxpayers of Arkansas as the State Supreme Court affirms what we’ve already known to be true: The voting process and machines used in Arkansas comply with state law,” Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said in a statement Thursday.

Reynolds, who could not be reached for comment Thursday, is still challenging the use of voting machines in Arkansas elections through a different avenue.

Arkansas Voter Integrity Initiative sued Thurston and the Board of Election Commissioners in January, asking the state Supreme Court to certify two proposed constitutional amendments: one that would require all Arkansas elections be conducted with hand-marked, hand-counted paper ballots and one that would limit absentee voting to people who can prove their inability to vote in person.

Griffin twice rejected proposals submitted by Restore Election Integrity Arkansas, the ballot question committee supporting the measures. Reynolds is the group’s chief operating officer.

The state’s high court agreed on Jan. 18 to fast-track a hearing in the lawsuit.

We the People filed a motion of amicus curiae, or “friend of the court,” brief Thursday afternoon. According to the brief, “the legislature has overstepped its bounds, creating laws that cause irreparable harm to the citizens of Arkansas.” 

The brief argues two 2023 laws that require proposed ballot measures be approved by the state attorney general and canvassers to gather signatures from 50 counties instead of the constitutional requirement of “at least 15 counties” are unconstitutional.

“We the People of Arkansas must stand up when our rights are being denied so that the powers reserved for us, and future generations, cannot be overthrown,” the brief states.

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