Arkansas United, an immigrant-advocacy organization that helps Spanish-speaking voters interpret their English-language ballots, had asked a federal judge in Fayetteville to void portions of a state law that prevent assistors from aiding more than six voters in an election.
Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act provides that certain voters who need help casting a ballot "may be given assistance by a person of the voter's choice." Eligible reasons include disability or illiteracy.
But Judge Timothy L. Brooks of the Western District of Arkansas denied the group's eleventh-hour bid for a temporary restraining order. While he agreed that state election law likely and impermissibly conflicts with the Voting Rights Act, he said it would be improper to "alter the procedures of an election that is already unfolding."
"Plaintiffs have not offered any explanation why they waited until the night before the election to bring this suit," Judge Brooks wrote, noting that the complaint was filed mere hours before midnight on Monday.
A spokesperson for Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge told Law360 in a statement that the office is "pleased" with the decision.
"The filing 15 minutes before Election Day is clearly a sandbag tactic to distract taxpayer resources," the spokesperson said.
Assistors who violate the state's restrictions could face up to a year in jail. Poll workers are required under state law to compile a list of assistors for review by each county's election commission. Any commission can refer suspected violations of the law to the county's prosecuting attorney.
According to Arkansas United, "the overwhelming majority" of non-English-proficient Arkansas voters require assistance understanding and marking their ballots.
"The voter assistance restrictions in the Arkansas Election Code particularly burden limited English proficient voters, who often rely on help from others to read and cast English-language ballots, by limiting the number of available assistors," the group said in its complaint.
Data from the Pew Research Center indicates that 83,000 — or nearly 4% — of the state's eligible voters are Latino.
The group lobbed its lawsuit against Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston, members of the Arkansas State Board of Election Commissioners and election administrators in several counties.
The Sebastian County Election Commission, one of the defendants, was further accused of "intimidation" as part of an attempt to discourage Arkansas United from carrying out voter-assistance efforts. The commission's chairman did not return a request for comment.
Arkansas United says it received a call from a representative of the county's election commission on Oct. 27. The caller, unnamed in Monday's suit, said the commission knew of the nonprofit's plan to set up an information booth near a poll site in Fort Smith, according to the lawsuit.
The caller is said to have warned Arkansas United against setting up shop near the poll site and promised the group that the county would "handle the provision of language services to voters."
However, when a volunteer later assisted one voter with casting a ballot, they saw "no ballot translations or bilingual poll workers as promised," the complaint said.
Arkansas United added that because it abides by the six-person limit, it must "divert resources away from other critical tasks to recruit, train and pay more assistors." The group did not return a request for comment on Tuesday.
Arkansas United is represented by Lawrence Walker of John W. Walker PA.
The state defendants are represented by Michael Cantrell, Nicholas Bronni and Vincent Wagner of the Arkansas Attorney General's Office.
The case is Arkansas United et al. v. Thurston et al., case number 20-05193, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas.
--Editing by Jack Karp.
Update: This story has been updated with a comment from the Arkansas Attorney General's Office.
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