Court Opinion

ID: 9890097
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-12 15:04:28.793309+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:03:11.799706
License: Public Domain

Cite as 2023 Ark. 145
                SUPREME COURT OF ARKANSAS
                                      No. CV-23-183

                             Opinion Delivered: October 12, 2023
 LEO HUMPHREY AND LAWRENCE
 SMITH                       APPEAL FROM THE ST. FRANCIS
                  APPELLANTS COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT
                             [NO. 62CV-22-292]
 V.                                            HONORABLE DANNY GLOVER,
                                               JUDGE
 PATTIE LONG, PATRICIA BEEDE,   APPEAL DISMISSED.
 AND FREDERICK FREEMAN, AS
 MEMBERS OF THE ST. FRANCIS
 COUNTY ELECTION
 COMMISSION; BRANDI MCCOY, AS
 COUNTY CLERK OF ST. FRANCIS
 COUNTY, ARKANSAS; JIM BAILEY,
 JR., CANDIDATE FOR CITY
 COUNCIL; AND RONALD
 WILLIAMS, CANDIDATE FOR CITY
 COUNCIL
                      APPELLEES

                             CODY HILAND, Associate Justice

       This appeal arises from an order of the St. Francis County Circuit Court denying

appellants Leo Humphrey and Lawrence Smith’s petition for declaratory judgment and writ

of mandamus. The petition sought relief related to the 2022 city council election in Forrest

City, Arkansas. We dismiss because the election has already taken place, rendering the issue

on appeal moot.

       Jim Bailey, Jr., entered the race for a position on the city council of Forrest City,

Arkansas, in May 2022. Three days before the November election, the St. Francis County
Clerk notified Bailey that his name was missing from the county’s list of registered voters;

thus, he was not a “qualified elector” able to take office. The day of the election, appellants

filed a pre-election challenge to Bailey’s eligibility in the circuit court. The election took

place as scheduled and Bailey won. Yet, the court ordered a stay on certifying the election

results until it could rule on appellants’ challenge.

       After two hearings, the circuit court issued an order finding that despite the absence

of Bailey’s name from the voter list at the time of the election, Bailey had been a registered

voter and therefore a “qualified elector” under article 19, section 3 of the Arkansas

Constitution. The court considered dispositive the evidence presented by both the Office

of the Secretary of State and the St. Francis County Clerk’s Office that Bailey’s name was

missing due only to a clerical-records system error that replaced Bailey’s name with that of

a newly registered voter. As the error was committed through no fault of Bailey, the order

authorized Bailey to remain in office. Appellants did not seek a stay to prevent certification

of the election results.

       Appellants ask this court to reverse the decision as an error of law, to remove Bailey

from office, and to issue a mandate placing Ronald Williams on the city council of Forrest

City as the election’s winner.

       Appellants claim their petition was a pre-election challenge. Arkansas Code

Annotated section 7-5-207(b) (Supp. 2023) controls the statutory right to challenge a

candidate’s eligibility before an election. Oliver v. Phillips, 375 Ark. 287, 290, 290 S.W.3d

11, 14 (2008). The proper proceeding to raise a pre-election challenge to a candidate’s

eligibility under Ark. Code Ann. § 7-5-207(b) “is mandamus, coupled with a declaratory

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judgment action.” State v. Craighead Cnty. Bd. of Election Comm’rs, 300 Ark. 405, 407, 779

S.W.2d 169, 170 (1989).

       “As a threshold matter, this court must determine whether the instant appeal is

moot.” Gray v. Thomas-Barnes, 2015 Ark. 426, at 5, 474 S.W.3d 876, 879. Generally, we

will not review issues that are moot because to do so would be to render an advisory

opinion. Id. The two recognized exceptions to the mootness doctrine extend to (1) issues

“capable of repetition, yet evading review” and (2) “issues . . . of substantial public interest

which, if addressed, would prevent future litigation.” Kinchen v. Wilkins, 367 Ark. 71, 74–

75, 238 S.W.3d 94, 97 (2006).

       Here, the petition was filed on election day, but whether appellants correctly labeled

it is a non-issue. The election was held and certified, and we take judicial notice of the

election results. Gray, 2015 Ark. 426, 474 S.W.3d 876. Bailey received 253 votes, and

Williams received 238. It is well settled that where an election has already taken place, “the

controversy regarding the candidate[’s] eligibility [becomes] moot.” Id.; see also, e.g., Gray,

2015 Ark. 426, 474 S.W.3d 876; Fite v. Grulkey, 2011 Ark. 188; Oliver, supra; Clement v.

Daniels, 366 Ark. 352, 235 S.W.3d 521 (2006); Ball v. Phillips Cnty. Election Comm’n, 364

Ark. 574, 222 S.W.3d 205 (2006); Tumey v. Daniels, 359 Ark. 256, 196 S.W.3d 479 (2004);

Benton v. Bradley, 344 Ark. 24, 37 S.W.3d 640 (2001); McCuen v. McGee, 315 Ark. 561, 868

S.W.2d 503 (1994); Craighead Cnty. Bd. of Election Comm’rs, supra.

       Also, the two exceptions to mootness—matters capable of repetition yet evading

review and matters of substantial public interest that are likely to be litigated—are not

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applicable here. See Kimbrell v. Thurston, 2020 Ark. 392, 611 S.W.3d 186. For these reasons,

the question of Bailey’s eligibility is moot, and the appeal is dismissed.

       Appeal dismissed.

       Leo Humphrey, pro se appellant.

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