LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The Pulaski County Election Commission and County Clerk Larry Crane have filed a lawsuit against the Arkansas Board of Election Commissioners over rules on how county election commissioners should handle absentee ballots under the state’s new voter-identification law, alleging the board overstepped its authority.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday, asks that the rules passed Feb. 28 be declared invalid.
The rules allow an absentee voter who does not provide a proper ID when voting until noon on the Monday after the election to provide an approved form of ID - such as a copy of a driver’s license. The rules also say those absentee voters should be notified via first class mail that they must submit approved forms of identification before their votes can be counted.
Pulaski County Attorney Karla Burnett said the new rules go outside the scope of the voter ID law, which requires photo identification for voters at the polls and some form of identification for absentee voters.
“This law is not ambiguous,” Burnett told the Arkansas Democrat-gazette (https://bit.ly/1i862XY). “This law is clear on its face.”
State election board attorney Tim Humphries and director Justin Clay said state law allows the board to make rules to ensure “fair and orderly election procedures,” which they say was the basis for the rules.
The rules were drafted after commissioners asked Feb. 19 for an emergency rule change that would be “consistent with the Secretary of State’s interpretation of (the law) allowing for absentee ballots that are returned without required identification to be counted.”
“Ultimately, I think the board felt there may have been ambiguity in the law,” Clay said.
The voter ID law was first used in a January special election in Craighead County, and, after the county Election Commission received absentee ballots without voter identification, the secretary of state’s office advised members to give those voters until noon on the first business day of the following week to present their ID to election officials.
That same month, the state Board of Election Commissioners advised the county that such a leeway period was not permitted for absentee voters under the law.
On Jan. 30, in preparation for a millage election, the Pulaski County Election Commission asked for a state attorney general’s opinion on how absentee ballots without approved identification should be treated. The Feb. 10 opinion said the law does not permit a leeway period.
On Tuesday, the Pulaski County Election Commission followed the attorney general’s advice and a few dozen absentee ballots were not counted for the millage election.
Burnett said she wasn’t concerned about legal challenges because the number of ballots not counted was too few to affect the election outcome.
However, Burnett said, she wants the matter resolved before the May 20 primary. She said that in 2012, 56 absentee ballots were submitted in a Pulaski County race for justice of the peace, which Wilma Walker won by eight votes.
“We need clarification on this issue,” Burnett said.
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Information from: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, https://www.arkansasonline.com
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