In a news release Monday afternoon, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin issued the following statement after the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed a lower court’s decision to deny the State’s motion for summary judgment and to issue a permanent injunction against the State:
“The Eighth Circuit properly determined that the district court erred by denying the State’s motion for summary judgment and by ruling for the plaintiffs. As the Eighth Circuit explained, plaintiffs in this case do not have a private right of action under the Voting Rights Act or under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
“At issue here is Act 658 of 2009, which was passed by the legislature and signed into law by then-Governor Mike Beebe. The law protects the right to vote free from undue influence or manipulation by limiting the number of voters that one person can assist in marking ballots to six. This commonsense approach to protecting our election process went unchallenged until 2020, when Arkansas United filed a lawsuit challenging the law shortly before midnight on the day before the general election.
“The Eighth Circuit’s decision means that officials can continue to enforce Arkansas’s laws and voters can have confidence in our elections. I am proud to defend Arkansas’s election-integrity laws.”
To read a copy of the court’s order, click here.
