Toney Orr, chairman of the board for Get Loud Arkansas, speaks against a permanent rule to prohibit electronic signatures on Arkansas voter registration forms except at select state agencies on July 11, 2024. (Mary Hennigan/Arkansas Advocate)
A federal appeals court has issued a “stay pending appeal” of an Arkansas case involving a rule requiring an ink-on-paper signature on voter registration forms.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in September issued an administrative stay that allowed state officials to implement the “wet signature” rule while parties in a lawsuit over the regulation prepared court filings.
On Thursday, the appeals court converted the administrative stay into a stronger delay to give state officials time to prepare their appeal of a federal district judge’s preliminary injunction against the rule that limits the use of electronic signatures on voter registration forms.
Monday is the deadline for registering to vote in the Nov. 5 election in Arkansas.
State lawmakers in May approved an emergency rule drafted by the Arkansas Board of Election Commissioners that requires a “wet signature,” meaning signing with a pen, on voter registration applications unless they’re completed at state agencies, like the DMV.
Voter advocacy group Get Loud Arkansas challenged the rule in June with a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas against Secretary of State John Thurston, the Arkansas State Board of Election Commissioners and the county clerks of Benton, Pulaski and Washington counties.
Additional plaintiffs include Vote.Org, a national voter registration-focused nonprofit, and two Arkansans who had their voter registration applications rejected because they had an electronic signature — Nikki Pastor and Trinity “Blake” Loper.
U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks issued a preliminary injunction on Aug. 29 because requiring that voter registration applications be signed with a “wet signature” likely violates the Materiality Provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and will cause plaintiffs irreparable harm.
Defendants in the case filed an appeal with the Eighth Circuit on Sept. 4. The 8th Circuit’s September order, administratively stayed Brooks’ injunction pending a ruling “on Appellants’ motion to stay the preliminary injunction pending disposition of this appeal.”
The state Board of Election Commissioners approved a final rule on “wet signatures” in July.
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