More Republican Election Cheating Thwarted, Arkansas Edition
The Arkansas Supreme Court denied Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ as well as Secretary of State Cole Jester’s request for a late special election date for two vacant seats. Sanders sought to stay two lower court orders requiring her to set earlier special election dates for the two legislative vacancies. Jester sought to consolidate the two cases. That didn't work out well for them.
KATV reports:
The two lawsuits both demand the governor comply with a state law requiring special election dates be set within 150 days after a vacancy opens, after she set elections far beyond that deadline.
The law allows an exception if it is “impracticable” to hold a special election within that timeline, but Pulaski County Circuit Court judges didn’t think that was the case when they ruled against the governor in both lawsuits—one filed by a Franklin County resident regarding the late State Sen. Gary Stubblefield’s seat, the other filed by the Democratic Party of Arkansas concerning the House District 70 seat, vacated by State Rep. Carlton Wing October 1.
The governor had set the special election for both seats on June 9—280 days after Stubblefield's seat became vacant, 252 days after Wing’s.