by Steve Brawner (BRAWNERSTEVE@MAC.COM)
A district judge has ruled that Arkansas’ 56 Libertarian Party candidates qualified for this year’s ballot, but the state could still appeal for future elections, and if it does, the incoming Senate president pro tempore expects it to win.
In an 83-page decision, U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker ruled Sept. 30 that an Arkansas law passed in 2019 violated the Libertarian Party of Arkansas’ 1st and 14th Amendment rights. The case was Libertarian Party of Arkansas v. John Thurston, who is secretary of state.
Act 164 of 2019 increased the required number of valid signatures “new” parties must collect from 10,000 to 3% of the total number of votes in the previous governor’s race. For this election cycle, the Libertarians would have had to submit 26,746 valid signatures, which is more than they did.
