Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin explains charges against pair for election law violation

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin released a statement on Thursday evening addressing election law violations by two men in Independence County in 2024.

Conrad Earl Reynolds and Dustin Black are the two individuals named in misdemeanor arrest warrants issued on Oct. 7. According to the warrant affidavit, the Independence County Election Commissioner received complaints from voters that Reynolds and Black were asking voters questions as they entered the election center.

Reynolds campaigns and advocates under the name Colonel Conrad Reynolds, reflecting his military rank upon retirement.

State law mandates that no polling be done within 100 feet of an election center entrance. Reynolds and Black were reportedly observed within 30 feet of the entrance by the commissioner, according to the affidavit, with Reynolds holding a clipboard and, in one report, instructing people on how to cast their votes.

Independence County had a ballot initiative in 2024 to move from voting machines to hand-counted paper ballots. Reynolds advocates strongly for paper ballots throughout the state.

Griffin said the investigation leading up to the warrants was done without political intent.

“This case was referred to my office by the State Board of Election Commissioners after the board received it from a local election official,” the attorney general said. “My career law enforcement officers conducted their investigation based solely on the facts, and it was done by the book.”

A Facebook post to Reynolds’ account on Thursday, written as a press release, said the warrant was politically motivated. In the release, Reynolds is quoted as saying the warrant was “nothing short of warfare,” and compared himself to “Letitia James in New York and Fani Willis in Georgia,” two attorneys general identified as political enemies by Trump administration supporters.

The press release/post also quotes Reynolds’ lawyer stating that the warrant “is nothing more than political retribution,” citing his client’s paper ballot advocacy.

Griffin did not speak to the political motivation charges and instead focused on the fairness of the investigation.

“The evidence in this case includes a video of both men conducting exit polling approximately 30 feet from a polling site,” Griffin stated in his conclusion. “This case, and the misdemeanor warrants we obtained, are about one thing: following the law. The subjects of our investigation were treated no differently than any subject of other investigations we have conducted.”