Justices on Wednesday vacated a Pulaski County judge’s decision that the law violates Arkansas’ constitution. Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox had struck down the law in a case that had focused on how absentee ballots are handled under the law, but justices stayed his ruling while they considered an appeal.  Justices said Fox didn’t have the authority to strike down the law in the case focusing on absentee ballots.

The absentee ballot case pitted the Democrat Attorney General’s opposition to allowing absentee voters the same amount of time to show proof of ID as in-person voters against the Republican Secretary of State’s broader interpretation of the law:

Fox issued the ruling in a case that had focused on absentee ballots. The Pulaski County Election Commission sued the state Board of Election Commissioners for adopting a rule that gives absentee voters additional time to show proof of ID. The rule allows voters who did not submit required identification with their absentee ballot to turn in the documents for their vote to be counted by noon Monday following an election. It mirrors an identical “cure period” the law gives to voters who fail to show identification at the polls.

McDaniel, a Democrat, issued a legal opinion in February in which he said absentee voters could not be given additional time to cast ballots, because that wasn’t specified in the law. His opinion conflicted with advice that the Republican secretary of state’s office had given to local election officials.

Today’s decision makes no change to the earlier ruling that voters must present photo voter ID in Arkansas’ May 20 primary election.