Arkansas Democrat Loses Ballot Access Case

On October 17, an Arkansas Circuit Court ruled against Dwayne Dobbins, who is trying to get on the ballot for State Representative, 39th district. Dobbins had won the Democratic primary for that office in May, but in July the Democratic Party had refused to accept his nomination, leaving the Democratic Party with no nominee on the ballot in November. Judge Chris Piazza said he would have enjoyed getting into the merits of the case, but that Dobbins filed the case too late. Dobbins had filed the case on October 10. Dobbins will now ask the Arkansas Supreme Court for relief.

The only candidate now on the ballot in November for the 39th state rep district is Richard Carroll, the Green Party nominee.

The Democratic Party had rejected Dobbins because he had earlier resigned from the legislature as part of a plea bargain. His wife had then taken his seat. But in 2008, his wife had surprised everyone by not filing for re-election; instead Dobbins had filed for the seat at the last minute. He was the only person on the ballot in the May Democratic primary, and Arkansas does not permit write-ins in primaries.


Comments

Arkansas Democrat Loses Ballot Access Case — 2 Comments

  1. This will be especially good for the Green Party as the 39th appears to be in the Little Rock area, thus guaranteeing the Green’s at least some state-wide publicity through the next two years.

    Does Arkansas allow the dems or reps to run a write-in campaign in the general?

    PEACE

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