Republican Party of Arkansas members file for injunction to close party primaries, attorney general counters

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A group of members of the Republican Party of Arkansas filed an injunction in federal court on Sunday to force action closing its party’s primaries.

The filing asks the court to mandate Secretary of State John Thurston to recognize the vote outcome from the Republican state convention in June. At the convention, party members voted to close primaries and enact new candidate registration requirements.

The filing asks the court to “take immediate steps to ensure that the rules and platform changes are published and adhere to all relevant party and election procedures.”

Attorney General Tim Giffin’s office filed a motion for dismissal on Monday, calling the RPA injunction request “threadbare” in his response.

A closed primary would mean that only registered Republicans could vote in that party’s primary elections. At its convention, the RPA heard concerns that under the current system, Arkansas Democrats were voting in Republican primaries.

Arkansas law requires voters to declare their party affiliation before voting in primary elections. It does not do so for the general election.

Secretary of State John Thurston stated that changing to a closed primary for Republicans would require a change in Arkansas law. RPA members supporting the closed primary move have said this is not true.

Griffin’s call for dismissal calls out the procedure followed when RPA made its convention vote, including the “scant details” surrounding the vote. Controversy arose in voting procedure, leading to the RPA executive committee voting in July that RPA votes at the convention, including the closed primary, were “null and void.”

RPA members filed suit in August against the executive committee’s vote, asking for an injunction.

Griffin’s dismissal motion states that the call for an injunction is part of an “intraparty dispute” as an additional reason for its dismissal. In addition, the motion points out that Thurston is immune from the suit since the entire argument behind it is from intraparty politics.

Finally, Griffin points out that the call for an injunction is “not ripe” since the next Republican primary in Arkansas will not occur until May 2026.

The court has not set a trial date.