The famously conservative Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals released a decision Friday evening that handwritten signatures, aka “wet signatures,” are indeed required on Arkansas’s voter registration applications after all.
Their decision comes in response to an Aug. 29 injunction instated by U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks that acknowledged the undue burden that the State Board
of Election Commissioners’ wet signature rule places on the people of Arkansas. Under Brooks’ injunction, would-be voters were OK’d to submit their signatures electronically.
The decision from the Eighth Circuit reverses that, again requiring pen-to-paper signatures on voter registration applications.
This is just the latest development in ongoing tussles over Arkansas Republicans’ efforts to make voting harder and more miserable than it needs to be. Arkansas has both the lowest rate of voter registration of any state and the lowest voter turnout, a strategy that some say helps to keep the state blood red. The strategy may or may not be working.
Voter registrations boomed in Arkansas and nationwide upon the news that Kamala Harris would step in as the Democrats’ candidate for president, journalist Mary Hennigan reported last month for the Arkansas Advocate.
But as one of only eight states nationwide that does not allow online voter registration, Arkansas’s numbers are likely lower than they could be.
“I think that if we had access to online voter registration like most other states do, we probably would have seen an even bigger increase because people could have taken immediate action,” Get Loud Arkansas Deputy Director Kristin Foster told Hennigan in August.
Foster and Get Loud Arkansas Director Joyce Elliott have led a legal challenge to make voter registration more accessible and convenient to digital native young voters and others who’ve grown accustomed to doing official things online, rather than on paper. Their efforts put them in a match of legal ping pong with Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston and the State Board of Election Commissioners, who contend that requiring wet signatures will stave off fraud.
So what happens now? What about the people who have filled out and signed their voter registration forms online during the legal volleying? That’s unclear.
“We believe everyone who used the platform during the injunction will be accepted, but we will be monitoring those registrations closely,” Foster said Sunday. “We should have a more definite answer from the court soon (hopefully).”
The deadline to register to vote in November’s election is Oct. 7. You can check your registration here to make sure you’re in good standing and that your address, name and other information are correct.
Get Loud Arkansas had this to say about Friday’s stay.
Friday evening, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued an
administrative stay of an August 29th preliminary injunction ordered by U.S. District
Judge Timothy L. Brooks, which acknowledged the undue burden that the State Board
of Election Commissioners’ wet signature rule places on the people of Arkansas. The
administrative stay puts a temporary pause on the injunction, effectively reinstating the
wet signature rule for voter registration purposes.
This rule creates an obstacle that risks disenfranchising eligible voters and disrupting
the fundamental process of our elections. The preliminary injunction recognized that this irreparable harm must be avoided. While the administrative stay poses a temporary
barrier, Get Loud Arkansas assures all Arkansans that the fight is far from over.
To those who have registered to vote with digital signatures during the injunction period, your voice matters, and we are committed to ensuring that your registration will count.
We understand your concerns and urge you to remain steadfast as we navigate these
legal challenges. Get Loud Arkansas will advocate for those registrations to be
recognized and for your right to participate in upcoming elections to be protected.
The deadline to vote in the upcoming general election remains on October 7. Our online
tool is still available to pre-fill a voter registration application without an electronic
signature. We encourage all eligible Arkansans to get registered, get informed, and get
loud at the ballot box. Together, we will build a better future for Arkansas.
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Publish date : 2024-09-15 05:41:00
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