LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said Monday she would appeal a judge’s ruling that struck down four new election laws as unconstitutional.
Rutledge, a Republican, said she would appeal Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen’s permanent injunction issued Friday against restrictions approved last year by the majority GOP legislature.
Rutledge said in a statement that she was appealing “in order to protect the integrity of elections” in the state.
The reversed measures include a change to the state’s voter identification law that removed the ability for someone to sign an affidavit confirming their identity if they couldn’t show photo ID to voters. ballot boxes.
The other blocked measures prevent anyone other than voters from coming within 100 feet of a polling place, require an absent voter’s signature on a ballot to match the signature on their application to register on the voter rolls and pushing back the deadline for voters to return mail-in ballots in person. .
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In Friday’s ruling, Griffen said the state’s concerns about election security and integrity “are based entirely on guesswork and speculation.”
The measures were challenged in a lawsuit filed by the League of Women Voters of Arkansas, Arkansas United and five voters.
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