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VietnameseGriffin: ‘Under Arkansas law, individuals with felony convictions are ineligible to vote until they have completed their sentences and restored their voting rights’
LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim Griffin today issued the following statement after agents from his office’s Election Integrity Unit (EIU) arrested Ouachita County resident Thomas Wesson:
“The State Board of Election Commissioners (SBEC) notified my office’s EIU after Wesson illegally cast a provisional ballot during the November 2024 general election in Ouachita County. Instead of following the proper procedure, he unlawfully inserted the ballot into the tabulator.
“During the investigation, agents from EIU discovered that Wesson, a convicted felon, had falsely stated on his Arkansas Voter Registration Application that he had never been convicted of a felony. He was convicted in 2000 for possession of narcotics, a Class C felony. Under Arkansas law, individuals with felony convictions are ineligible to vote until they have completed their sentences and restored their voting rights.
“Agents from my office, with help from the Ouachita County Sheriff’s Office, arrested Wesson today and charged him with one count of perjury, a Class C felony, and one count of election felony, a Class D felony. I commend my EIU agents, Thirteenth Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Jeff Rogers, the SBEC, and the Ouachita County Sheriff’s Office for their work on this case. Following his arrest, Wesson was booked in the Ouachita County Jail.”
To download a PDF version of this release, click here.
About Attorney General Tim Griffin
Tim Griffin was sworn in as the 57th Attorney General of Arkansas on January 10, 2023, having previously served as the state’s 20th Lieutenant Governor from 2015-2023. From 2011-2015, Griffin served as the 24th representative of Arkansas’s Second Congressional District, where he served on the House Committee on Ways and Means, House Armed Services Committee, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Committee on Ethics and House Committee on the Judiciary while also serving as a Deputy Whip for the Majority.
Griffin is currently an officer in the Arkansas Army National Guard and holds the rank of colonel. Griffin served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for more than 28 years. In 2005, Griffin was mobilized to active duty as an Army prosecutor at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq.
His previous assignments include serving as the Commander of the 2d Legal Operations Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana; the Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; and as a Senior Legislative Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness at the Pentagon. Griffin earned a master’s degree in strategic studies as a Distinguished Honor Graduate from the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.
Griffin also served as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs for President George W. Bush; Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Arkansas; Senior Investigative Counsel, Government Reform and Oversight Committee, U.S. House of Representatives; and Associate Independent Counsel, Office of Independent Counsel David M. Barrett, In re: HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros.
Griffin is a graduate of Magnolia High School, Hendrix College in Conway, and Tulane Law School in New Orleans. He attended graduate school at Oxford University. He is admitted to practice law in Arkansas (active) and Louisiana (inactive). Griffin lives in Little Rock with his wife, Elizabeth, a Camden native, and their three children.
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