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VietnameseGriffin: ‘The public’s confidence in government is directly tied to the public’s confidence in our elections’
LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim Griffin today issued the following statement regarding his office’s Election Integrity Unit ahead of the start of early voting for the 2024 preferential primary election and nonpartisan general election:
“The public’s confidence in government is directly tied to the public’s confidence in our elections. Election integrity has always been a priority for me throughout my time in public service. I established the Election Integrity Unit last year to ensure the people of Arkansas have an outlet to submit complaints and ensure that all credible leads are investigated.
“Thanks to the legislature’s work last year, my office now has the authority to bring a civil cause of action against those who violate our election laws. This is an important tool to ensure that our laws are followed as monetary damages can be an effective deterrent.”
Griffin established the Election Integrity Unit (EIU) under his office’s Special Investigations Division in March 2023 with Chief Wayne Bewley serving as the unit’s director. In April, Act 544 of 2023 was signed into law. The Act codified the EIU and permitted the Office of the Attorney General to file civil suits for election-related offenses.
Griffin reminds Arkansans who may wish to file a complaint concerning potential election law violations to contact his office’s Election Law Hotline at (833) 995-8683.
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 has served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps for more than 27 years and currently holds the rank of colonel. 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.
He is currently serving as the Commander of the 2d Legal Operations Detachment in New Orleans, Louisiana. His previous assignments include serving as the Commander of the 134th Legal Operations Detachment at Fort Liberty (née 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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