Former Pulaski County Justice of the Peace files appeal with Arkansas Supreme Court

Kristina Gulley, a former Pulaski County justice of the peace who was removed from office by court order last fall, has appealed the ruling in a lawsuit she filed in March against the county and the County Board of Election Commissioners after she was barred from running for office again.

The lawsuit, filed March 5 by Maximillan Sprinkle of the Sprinkle Law Firm, asks Judge Herbert Wright to prohibit the county from certifying the election results for District 10 Justice of the Peace until all eligible voters “have had an opportunity to cast their ballot for Ms. Gulley.”

Wright denied Gulley's request to delay the vote count and all of the claims made in her original lawsuit. She also denied Gulley's request to retry the case in court in June.

Gulley claimed that she completed and submitted all the required paperwork, fees and applications for her candidacy on Nov. 6 and was “approved as a candidate for the position,” and that the commission “improperly and unilaterally” removed her name from the ballot without notifying her. Gulley told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette she was not informed of the ballot change until late November, when a Jacksonville reporter informed her of it.

According to the lawsuit, part of the state constitution violates the rights of prospective candidates and voters under the 14th and 5th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibit prospective candidates and voters who have been convicted of embezzlement of public funds, bribery, forgery or “any other heinous crime” from holding “any office of trust or employment for profit in this State.”

Gulley was originally elected to office in 2020 and served one term before two voters filed suit against her, claiming that Faulkner County bad check charges from 1997 and 2003 were considered “notorious crimes” and grounds for criminalizing a candidate from running for office.

She was disqualified by the court from serving in the District 10 seat in May 2022 – a decision upheld by the Arkansas Supreme Court last April – and was removed from office following a September 2023 court ruling following a district-led lawsuit that Gulley did not appeal.

Florence Wiley, chair of the McAlmont Concerned Citizens and Youth group and the second plaintiff in the lawsuit against the county, said Gulley “never stopped working for District 10.”

Wiley said Gulley often attended cleanups and other community events in the city and advocated for many issues important to voters before, during and after her term in office.

After Gulley was barred from office in 2022, she and Wiley visited the state Capitol as part of an effort to change Arkansas law that bars people convicted of a “notorious crime” from running, Wiley said. The change would have limited the number of years a “notorious crime” such as a conviction for passing bad checks can affect a candidate's eligibility, she said, adding that the bill was never introduced to the House for consideration.

“Running for office should be like any other job,” Gulley said, adding that political candidates should be required to submit the state's electronic criminal background check and a separate child abuse registry check to apply to run. Although neither background check is required to run, Gulley said she submitted those documents to prove her criminal record was clean when she re-ran for the Quorum Court seat in November.

The lawsuit filed by Gulley alleges that the Election Commission used the court's 2022 decision declaring her ineligible as “the basis for its current unilateral decision to remove Ms. Gulley's name from the ballot,” adding that the commission's actions “represent an impermissible restriction on voters' constitutionally protected interest in associating with politically like-minded individuals.”

“She is [Gulley] who I wanted to vote for but couldn't because her name wasn't on the ballot,” Wiley said. “I want voters to have a voice, and if we vote her into office, we should also have the ability to vote her out.”

She said the decision to remove a candidate from the ballot should not be in the hands of any organization or commission, but voters should be able to “decide when a person is on the ballot.”

“I want something positive to come out of this appeal and for laws to be changed,” Gulley said, adding that she believes the actions taken against her are “dirty politics” and that she will work to “flip seats” at the state and county levels.

From the date of filing of the notice of appeal, the plaintiff has 90 days to file all required documents with the State Supreme Court.

The county told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that it could not comment at this time due to ongoing litigation.