Two independent candidates are challenging Arkansas' ballot access laws, arguing that the existing standards violate their rights under the First and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
Senate candidate Dan Whitfield of Bella Vista and state House candidate Gary Fults of Hensley filed suit late Wednesday against Secretary of State John Thurston in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
The 13-page complaint, officially entered by court officials Thursday, was assigned to U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker and U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Thomas Ray, court records show.
Under Arkansas law, state election officials will not recognize any signatures that were collected before Feb. 1; nor will they accept any signatures submitted after noon today. In that time period, the state has been in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, curtailing the ability of people circulating petitions to obtain signatures.
