LITTLE ROCK -- An Arkansas judge said Tuesday that he will not stay his decision that struck down as unconstitutional four new voting laws approved by the Republican-led Legislature last year.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen denied Republican Attorney General Leslie Rutledge's motion for a stay of his permanent injunction earlier this month against the laws the Legislature approved last year.
Rutledge had asked for the stay while she appealed Griffen's injunction.
Griffen wrote that doing so would "all but ensure that the challenged provisions would be in place during the May primary election, thereby violating the constitutional rights of thousands of Arkansas voters."
Rutledge's office said the attorney general would ask the state Supreme Court to stay the judge's injunction against the four laws.
"Judge Griffen -- once again -- entered an erroneous decision that does not prioritize the integrity of the quickly approaching election or Arkansans' fundamental right to vote," Amanda Priest, spokeswoman for Rutledge's office, said in a statement.
The measures struck down include a change to the state's voter ID law that removed the option for voters to sign an affidavit affirming their identities if they could not present photo identification at the polls.
The other blocked measures prevent anyone other than voters from being within 100 feet of a polling place, require an absentee voter's signature on a ballot to match the signature on their voter registration application and move up the deadline for voters to return absentee ballots in person.