MALVERN -- A judge ruled Friday that votes cast for state Rep. Laurie Rushing, R-District 26, will be counted in Tuesday's general election.
Hot Spring County Circuit Judge Chris Williams dismissed the lawsuit five Hot Spring and Garland county voters filed Monday alleging Rushing is in violation of the state Constitution's residency requirement for Arkansas House members.
Rushing is running against Democratic nominee Alan Hughes in Tuesday's election to represent southeast Garland County and Hot Spring County in the House.
The voters' complaint argued the two-term lawmaker is not a resident of Garland County or District 26, but Williams ruled after a short hearing Friday that Rushing has maintained a physical presence at a Dellmere Drive residence. Rushing testified that she shares the residence with her mother, but the plaintiffs maintained that she resides at the Capitol Hill Apartments the secretary of state's office provides for legislators.
Williams said Rushing met the residency requirement despite her voter registration, statement of financial interest and driver's license listing a Cannon Ridge Point address that was sold last year. Rushing lived there with her ex-husband, she testified Friday, telling the court she moved in with her mother last November.
Rushing testified that she updated the address on her voter registration Thursday, leading plaintiff attorney Ray Baxter to ask if the change was motivated by the lawsuit filed against her three days earlier.
"After you got sued you changed your address?" he asked Rushing during direct examination. "Is that because you got sued?"
Rushing responded that she changed her registration after being made aware that it hadn't been updated. She said the Cannon Ridge address was listed on the driver's license she showed Garland County poll workers when she voted during the first day of early voting on Oct. 22.
Rushing testified that poll workers didn't ask her to verify her name, date of birth or address after presenting her license. Jim Houpt, chairman of the Hot Spring County Election Commission, testified that presenting a photo ID at a polling place is insufficient, and that poll workers are required by law to ask voters for their name, date of birth and address.
Rushing said after the hearing that she voted at the Hancock Fabrics building across from the Hot Springs Mall, telling The Sentinel-Record that she felt vindicated by Friday's ruling.
"I've always maintained residency in Garland County and in District 26," she said. "I knew that I did. I knew I wasn't wrong, so I wasn't afraid of coming here today. I knew that I was right."
Baxter asked Rushing why her sport utility vehicle was parked at the Capitol Hill Apartments on Halloween when she testified that she had stayed at the Dellmere residence that night. She said she had been alternating vehicles, borrowing different ones from her brother-in-law's car dealership, to avoid political blogger and attorney Matt Campbell, whom she said is "stalking and harassing" her.
Campbell testified that he had been attempting to serve Rushing since the spring with the defamation lawsuit Rushing's former son-in-law filed against her in North Carolina. He claims Rushing has accused him of killing his wife, the late Tara Renee Watts, Rushing's daughter. She died in May 2016 in North Carolina.
Campbell, who's representing the son-in-law in the lawsuit, said his attempts to serve Rushing by certified mail at the Cannon Ridge and Dellmere addresses were unsuccessful, with the court papers being returned as undeliverable. He said he began to notice her SUV was parked outside the Capitol Hill Apartments four or five days a week when he hired a process server in late summer to find Rushing.
Service was finally perfected last month, Campbell testified, when he and his process server girlfriend confronted Rushing outside a Little Rock restaurant.
Rushing testified that it is common for legislators to stay at the apartment complex for long durations, even when the Legislature isn't in session. She said Campbell probably saw her vehicle there when she was working with the Bureau of Legislative Research on drafting the grandparents rights bill and other legislation she plans on introducing next year.
In support of her claim that she resides in Garland County, Rushing's attorney entered into the record an email she sent a House staffer in October 2017 to notify the Capitol that she was moving to the Dellmere address. He also provided the court with copies of tax returns, bank statements and a real estate commission form that showed Rushing had changed her address earlier this year.
Williams' ruling included ordering Rushing to update the address on the 2017 statement of financial interest she filed in January. Rushing testified that she listed the Cannon Ridge address after being told the filing should reflect where she resided in 2017.
"You will amend your statement of financial interest for purposes of protecting voters," Williams said. "The voter has a right to know."
Williams closed the proceedings with an admonishment directed at a larger audience.
"I have one final comment," he said. "Go vote."
Local on 11/03/2018