PHOTO: Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Secretary of State Cole Jester are appealing circuit court orders to move up two special elections, but the Arkansas Supreme Court declined to pause the orders during the appeals. Sanders and Jester are pictured here as he assists her with filing for reelection on Nov. 3, 2025. | Photo by Ainsley Platt/Arkansas Advocate
By AINSLEY PLATT | Arkansas Advocate
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced Sunday that she would comply with what she described as “unlawful” court orders to reschedule two special elections for vacant legislative seats.
The announcement came four days after the Arkansas Supreme Court denied Sanders’ request to pausetwo Pulaski County Circuit Court orders to move the elections, originally scheduled for June 9, to an earlier date while she pursued appeals.
Under the new election schedule, which Sanders wrote was being set “under duress and with objection to the unlawful court order,” both Senate District 26 and House District 70 will have special general elections on March 3, 2026, with the special primary newly set for Jan. 6.
“The court has ruled that I must set special election dates that would give overseas military members insufficient time to vote, violating Arkansas law and potentially invalidating the entire election,” Sanders said in the proclamations.
“While I object to this ruling, I will comply with the court’s order and remain confident that on appeal, the law plainly giving me the authority to set special elections will be upheld, ensure our elections are free, fair, and secure, and protect the right to vote for our heroes who put their lives on the line to keep us free,” she wrote.
Sanders’ proclamations made no mention of the Supreme Court’s ruling against her request for a stay of those orders.
Sanders set special elections for the Senate District 26 and House District 70 seats for June 9, 2026, after the death of Sen. Gary Stubblefield of Branch and the resignation of Rep. Carlton Wing of North Little Rock to lead Arkansas PBS in September.
But the June date occurs after the Legislature’s fiscal session in April, which generated bipartisan criticismand lawsuits from SD 26 and HD 70 voters, who said it would deprive them of representation for important legislative deliberations on issues like education and prison funding.
The Democratic Party of Arkansas, which is a plaintiff in the HD 70 lawsuit, issued a statement Sunday night calling Sanders’ decision to move the special elections to March “a huge win for democracy and for representation in Arkansas.”
“This proclamation achieves the goal of our lawsuit — to ensure the 30,000 Arkansans in House District 70 have representation,” DPA Chair retired Col. Marcus Jones said in the statement.
“Pulaski County election officials have previously confirmed they are ready and can assure a secure and fair election,” Jones said.
What the law says
Under Arkansas law, the governor is required to schedule a special election date to fill a vacancy within 150 days unless she finds it “impracticable or unduly burdensome” to do so. Further, if the election can’t be held within 150 days, the law requires it to be held on the earliest practicable date after that statutory deadline.
A June 9 election would be 252 days after Wing’s Sept. 30 resignation — or 152 days after the 150-day mark. The summer election date would be 280 days after Stubblefield’s seat became vacant. The average number of days a special election has been held after the 150-day mark since 2011 is about 25 days, according to an unpublished Senate memo.
Circuit judges in both lawsuits sided with the plaintiffs and ordered Sanders to schedule the elections earlier, finding that the June dates were impermissible under state law and the U.S. and Arkansas constitutions, though the reasoning varied between the cases.
In the HD 70 case, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Shawn Johnson explicitly ordered Sanders to set the general special election for March 3, 2026. In the SD 26 case, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Patricia James said Sanders needed to set it “as soon as practicable” after the 150-day deadline, but did not specify when.
While Sanders said she is complying, she wrote in her proclamations that “the circuit court substituted judicially invented election policy for the General Assembly’s lawfully enacted statutes” and usurped her statutory authority.