The current election schedule violates District 26 voters’ rights, attorney says
by Ainsley Platt, Arkansas Advocate
October 15, 2025
A Pulaski County circuit judge said she would issue a ruling quickly in a lawsuit seeking to move up the dates of the Senate District 26 special election after a hearing Wednesday.
The lawsuit, which attorney Jennifer Waymack Standerfer filed last week in Pulaski County Circuit Court on behalf of Franklin County resident Colt Shelby, seeks an earlier date for a special election to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Branch Republican Sen. Gary Stubblefield. The suit alleges the current schedule prevents District 26 voters from having a voice during the 2026 fiscal session, which begins in April.
The attorney general’s office is representing the defendants, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Secretary of State Cole Jester. During Wednesday’s hearing, Senior Assistant Attorney General Ryan Hale said the case should be dismissed because the plaintiff failed to state a claim and because of sovereign immunity, the legal doctrine that the state cannot be sued in its own courts.
Franklin County resident sues to move up election to fill Arkansas senator’s seat
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Patricia James said she understood the time-sensitivity of the case at the end of the two-hour hearing Wednesday, but didn’t issue a ruling.
“I know it’s important to everyone here” that a decision be made in the case soon, James told the packed courtroom. “It will be quick.”
In an amended complaint filed Tuesday, Standerfer asked the court to order Sanders to schedule the special election “on the earliest date” possible prior to the 2026 fiscal session, while still complying with election laws and deadlines.
Hale argued the court does not have the authority to grant the plaintiff’s request.
“Specifically, the Court has no authority to set the timeline for the special election,” Hale wrote in court documents. “And to the extent a declaration is based on an equitable request for relief, the Court does not have authority to declare that the special election must occur in advance of the 2026 fiscal session, that the Governor failed to follow the law concerning vacancies, or that the Governor’s determinations related to the special election were ‘untimely and violative of law.’”
State law requires a special election be held within 150 days of a legislative vacancy, unless the governor finds it is “impracticable or unduly burdensome” to do so.
Standerfer argued Wednesday that the issue was “largely” a question of law, because Sanders “neglected” to explain her reason for determining that holding the election sooner was not possible or too burdensome.
State law gives Sanders the authority to determine if the 150-day requirement is impracticable or too burdensome, Hale said, not the courts. There is no requirement in the special election law that Sanders justify her use of the exception, so the governor’s decision is not challengable, Hale argued.
Numerous special elections over the last 15 years have gone past the 150-day mark, but Sanders’ proposed schedule for Stubblefield’s seat is the longest by far, according to an unpublished Senate memo.
Sanders originally scheduled the special primary and general elections for the seat on March 3 and Nov. 3 of next year, coinciding with the state’s regular midterm election schedule. After bipartisan pushback, she revised the general election date to June 9.
Much of that criticism focused on a lack of representation for residents of Senate District 26, which includes parts of Franklin County where the state has proposed building a 3,000-bed prison. During the fiscal session that starts in April, lawmakers are likely to vote on funding for the controversial project, which is expected to cost $825 million, according to preliminary estimates. Many locals living near the site are staunchly opposed to the prison, and an appropriations bill for the project failed five times during the 2025 legislative session.
The state did not call any witnesses during the hearing, while Standerfer called six — Shelby; Stubblefield’s daughter, Amber Sullivan; Republican Sen. Bryan King of Green Forest, an outspoken critic of the proposed prison; and three election workers from Franklin and Logan counties.
Jo Dawn Carter, Logan County’s election coordinator, testified that the longer it took to set election dates, the more work it would be to ensure the county was prepared. However, Carter said Logan County election officials would do everything necessary to ensure a smooth election if the dates are moved up.
In an interview with the Advocate after the hearing, Carter said she’d already begun preparing for if the election dates are changed.
Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for questions: info@arkansasadvocate.com.
