Election officials in an East Arkansas county should not be required to conduct early voting at a West Memphis church because the county clerk acted outside their authority, Attorney General Tim Griffin wrote in an amicus brief Tuesday.

Griffin was filed Tuesday afternoon in a state Supreme Court case that will decide whether an early voting site will be available in West Memphis next Monday. Griffin supported the Crittenden County Board of Elections, whose members recently appealed a lower court decision that required them to vote early at the Seventh Street Church of Christ.

Griffin requested permission from the Supreme Court to file the “friend of the court” brief around noon, and the 10-page briefing appeared in the state’s online court system about four and a half hours later.

“The Court’s decision in this case will determine whether state election laws are interpreted inconsistently with the letter of the law and current practice in counties across the state,” Griffin’s brief states. “The district court’s decision bypasses the protections established by the Arkansas Legislature, upsets the balance of power between the county board of election commissioners and the county clerk, and grants unfettered discretion to a county clerk. Worse, the district court’s novel interpretation comes just before early voting begins and threatens the proper administration of early voting in the state.”

Griffin continues to support commissioner attorney Joe Rogers’ argument that the county clerk cannot designate a polling location for early voting outside of the county clerk’s office in the county seat, in this case Marion.

“This court should reject the district court’s novel expansion of the county clerk’s powers and vacate its order directing the (county board of election commissioners) to conduct early voting at the Seventh Street Church of Christ in West Memphis,” Griffin wrote.

East Arkansas election officials are appealing the order dictating early voting locations in West Memphis

Attorney Jennifer Standerfer filed the first lawsuit on Sept. 19 on behalf of Shirley Brown and Lavonda Taylor, two West Memphis voters who plan to cast their ballots early in the general election. They sued the three members of the Crittenden County Board of Election Commissioners in their official capacity, alleging that they refused to allow early voting in the county’s largest city despite designating certain areas.

District Court Judge Chris Thyer heard the case quickly because of its potential impact on the upcoming election decided on September 30th that Crittenden County Clerk Paula Brown acted appropriately when she designated an early voting site in West Memphis and asked election commissioners to staff it.

Thyer also noted that there was no need to use a separate, disputed early voting site in this election and that local election board members did not need to meet again to agree on additional voting locations. Thyer asked attorneys on both sides of the case to appeal his decision to the state Supreme Court, which Rogers did on behalf of the election commissioners on October 4th.

The Crittenden County Board of Election Commissioners consists of three members: Republicans Frank Barton and Anita Bell and Democrat James Pulliaum.

Barton and Bell voted to appeal the district court’s ruling to the state Supreme Court, while Pulliaum dissented.

Bell is also the mother-in-law of Tammi Northcutt Bell, a Republican candidate vying for the House District 63 seat. District 63, which includes parts of West Memphis, is currently represented by Rep. Deborah Ferguson, a Democrat who is not seeking re-election.

Local Democratic officials have called county election commissioners’ attempt to prevent early voting in West Memphis voter suppression.

“I think it’s purely political, an attempt to gain a political advantage to get the Republican candidates elected,” Sen. Reginald Murdock, D-Marianna, told the Advocate earlier this month. “They want to make it more difficult for voters, Democratic voters, to exercise their right to vote.”

Early voting in Arkansas begins Monday, October 21st.