This article has been corrected. 1 correction — see Corrections at the end of this article.

Category: Political Operative / Election-Systems Litigant Role: Founder and CEO of the Arkansas Voter Integrity Initiative (AVII), a 501(c)(4) advocating to replace electronic voting machines with hand-marked, hand-counted paper ballots; two-time Republican primary candidate for Arkansas’s 2nd Congressional District (2014, 2022); co-host of The Colonel of Truth podcast; named plaintiff in AVII v. Thurston at the Arkansas Supreme Court. Priority: P2 — network-level organizer with documented federal coordination role and one pending misdemeanor charge in Arkansas.

Basis for Inclusion Subject classification: Voluntary Public Figure — Public Organizer / Public Advocate Anchor criteria met: – Anchor B: Founder and CEO of the Arkansas Voter Integrity Initiative, and the named individual plaintiff in AVII v. Thurston — a documented founder/officer role in the organization whose conduct this profile documents. – Anchor D: Voluntarily and publicly assumed a leadership and organizing role — two Republican primary candidacies for federal office, circulation of the 2024 Independence County ballot initiative, co-hosting a public advocacy podcast, and documented meetings with senior White House and Commerce Department officials. – Anchor A (partial, and deliberately not load-bearing): A pending Arkansas Class A misdemeanor charge under Ark. Code § 7-1-103. The charge is unresolved, Reynolds has pleaded not guilty, and the underlying statute is under a live federal constitutional challenge — so it is documented as a fact but is not the basis for inclusion. Anchors B and D stand on their own. See Documented Action 3 and its legal-safety note. What is NOT the basis for inclusion: Reynolds’s political affiliation, his views on voting technology, his election-integrity claims, or his campaign speech. Inclusion rests on organizational leadership, named-plaintiff litigation, ballot-initiative organizing, and the documented federal meetings. Protected speech note: Statements, commentary, and advocacy documented in this profile are protected speech under the First Amendment. Reynolds’s opinions about voting technology, his election-integrity claims, and his campaign speech are included as factual context — the record of what this public figure said in his public role — and do not independently constitute a basis for accountability findings. Accountability findings rest on documented non-speech conduct: organizational leadership (AVII), named-plaintiff litigation, documented meetings with federal officials, and a pending state misdemeanor charge.

Role

Reynolds is the founder and CEO of the Arkansas Voter Integrity Initiative (AVII), a 501(c)(4) that has become one of the more visible state-level vehicles for the movement to ban electronic voting machines and return to hand-marked, hand-counted paper ballots. He is a retired U.S. Army intelligence officer (29 years, colonel rank), a two-time Republican primary candidate for Arkansas’s 2nd Congressional District, co-host of The Colonel of Truth radio show/podcast, and founder of the Arkansas Military Veterans’ Hall of Fame.

He matters for accountability tracking because he sits at the intersection of state-level election-system litigation, county-level ballot organizing, and — per CNN reporting based on federal records obtained by American Oversight — direct advocacy with senior White House and Commerce Department officials pushing to have most U.S. voting machines declared a national-security threat ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Background

Reynolds is a native Arkansan based in Conway. He spent 29 years in U.S. Army intelligence, retiring at the rank of colonel. He ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for Arkansas’s 2nd Congressional District in both 2014 and 2022, losing each time to incumbent Rep. French Hill. He founded the Arkansas Military Veterans’ Hall of Fame. He founded AVII as a 501(c)(4) advocating for hand-marked, hand-counted paper ballots and against the use of ballot-marking devices and electronic tabulators in Arkansas elections. He co-hosts The Colonel of Truth podcast with Will Huff, who managed his 2022 congressional campaign.

Documented Actions

1. Founded and led the Arkansas Voter Integrity Initiative (AVII); named plaintiff in AVII v. Thurston (2023–2024)

Evidence: Reynolds founded AVII as a 501(c)(4) organization and serves as its CEO. In that capacity, he was the individual named plaintiff (alongside AVII) in a state civil action against Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston, the State Board of Election Commissioners, and Election Systems and Software, LLC.

The suit argued that Arkansas’s ExpressVote ballot-marking devices and DS200 tabulators violated state law and the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) because the tabulators scan barcodes rather than the human-readable text voters review; the suit sought declaratory and injunctive relief, alleged illegal exaction, added consumer-fraud claims against ES&S, and requested class-action status.

The Pulaski County Circuit Court dismissed the case after a truncated evidentiary hearing; Reynolds moved unsuccessfully to recuse the trial judge and separately moved for a new trial on the ground that he had been denied a jury trial. The Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal on April 4, 2024 in Arkansas Voter Integrity Initiative, Inc. and Conrad Reynolds v. John Thurston, et al., No. CV-23-755.

SourceCourtListener opinion, “Arkansas Voter Integrity Initiative, Inc. and Conrad Reynolds v. John Thurston,” April 4, 2024. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/9490777/arkansas-voter-integrity-initiative-inc-and-conrad-reynolds-v-john/Court record: Arkansas Voter Integrity Initiative, Inc. and Conrad Reynolds v. John Thurston, et al., Arkansas Supreme Court, No. CV-23-755, decided April 4, 2024 (affirming dismissal).

SourceArkansas Voter Integrity Initiative (primary source, not independent), “A Call for Transparent Elections in Arkansas.” https://arkansasvii.org/a-call-for-transparent-elections-in-arkansas/SourceJustia case summary, “Arkansas Voter Integrity Initiative v. Thurston, CV-23-755,” 2024. https://law.justia.com/cases/arkansas/supreme-court/2024/cv-23-755.html

Pattern: State-court challenge to certified voting systems; theory rejected by state supreme court.

2. Circulated 2024 Independence County ballot initiative to eliminate voting machines

SourceArkansas Democrat-Gazette, “Paper-ballot advocate faces Arkansas misdemeanor,” October 9, 2025. https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2025/oct/09/paper-ballot-advocate-faces-arkansas-misdemeanor/?latest=Evidence: Reynolds circulated the petition for a 2024 ballot initiative in Independence County, Arkansas, that placed a measure before voters to return the county to hand-marked, hand-counted paper ballots. The measure passed with roughly 63% in favor on Election Day, November 5, 2024, making Independence County the first U.S. county to vote to abandon electronic voting systems in favor of a hand-count regime, per contemporaneous local reporting.

Pattern: County-level dismantling of certified voting infrastructure via ballot initiative.

3. Charged with misdemeanor electioneering, Independence County (2024 conduct; charge Oct. 2025)

Evidence: On general Election Day, November 5, 2024, Reynolds and associate Dustin Black were present near the entrance of the Batesville Community Center polling site in Independence County, Arkansas, at a location reported as approximately 29–30 feet from the entrance. Arkansas Code § 7-1-103 prohibits electioneering within 100 feet of a polling entrance. On October 9, 2025, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office announced Class A misdemeanor warrants against Reynolds and Black under § 7-1-103. Griffin’s office stated the matter was referred by the State Board of Election Commissioners after a local official’s complaint, investigated by career law enforcement, and prosecuted by a court-appointed special prosecutor. Reynolds and Black pleaded not guilty on October 15, 2025.

Reynolds’s defense — through attorney Chris Corbitt and consultant Mike Gableman — contends the conduct was lawful post-vote “exit polling” rather than electioneering, and cites a prior Arkansas AG opinion (Beebe) that exit polling is not electioneering. In January 2026, a separate federal lawsuit was filed by Arkansas Secretary of State candidate Bryan Norris challenging § 7-1-103 as unconstitutionally vague/overbroad as applied, citing the Reynolds prosecution as the precipitating example.

SourceArkansas Attorney General press release, “Attorney General Griffin addresses election-related charges filed by his office,” October 9, 2025. https://arkansasag.gov/news-release/attorney-general-griffin-addresses-election-related-charges-filed-by-his-office/Court record: State of Arkansas v. Conrad Reynolds and Dustin Black, Independence County (Arkansas district/circuit court), Class A misdemeanor under Ark. Code § 7-1-103; warrant announced October 9, 2025; not-guilty plea October 15, 2025. (Not indexed on CourtListener/PACER.)

SourceSouth Arkansas Daily, “Sec of State candidate Bryan Norris files federal lawsuit challenging Arkansas election law as unconstitutional,” January 2026. https://southarkdaily.com/sec-of-state-candidate-bryan-norris-files-federal-lawsuit-challenging-arkansas-election-law-as-unconstitutional/SourceWhite River Now, “Video leads to election law charges against two in Independence County,” October 10, 2025. https://www.whiterivernow.com/2025/10/10/video-leads-to-election-law-charges-against-two-in-independence-county/SourceKAIT8, “Two men plead not guilty to election law violations in Independence County,” October 15, 2025. https://www.kait8.com/2025/10/15/two-men-plead-not-guilty-election-law-violations-independence-county/

Pattern: Pending state misdemeanor with active constitutional challenge to the underlying statute.

Legal-safety note: Per the Non-Speech Anchor Test’s Anchor A limits, this charge is pending, involves conduct that Reynolds contends is First-Amendment-protected exit polling, and is the subject of a live federal constitutional challenge to § 7-1-103. This profile does not treat the charge as establishing the underlying conduct as unlawful; it documents the fact of the charge, the plea, and the pending constitutional challenge.

4. Documented federal advocacy: meetings with senior White House and Commerce Department officials to push national-security designation of voting machines (Aug. 2025 – Aug. 2026)

Evidence: Per CNN reporting on September 10, 2026 based on federal emails obtained by the government-transparency watchdog American Oversight, Reynolds and co-host Will Huff met with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles in August 2025 to discuss election security. Wiles connected them to Ed Martin, a conservative lawyer and former DOJ “weaponization” chief; they were also in contact with Kurt Olsen, described as the White House’s self-described “election security czar,” who has since moved to the Department of Justice.

In August 2026, Reynolds and Huff say they pitched Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick directly, claiming he met with them for more than two hours and allowed them to “present a plan” to have most U.S. voting machines declared a national-security threat ahead of the 2026 midterms. CNN reports that Commerce career staff reviewed the claims but found insufficient evidence to act.

SourceReuters (via HuffPost), “Trump Official Tried To Ban Half Of U.S. Voting Machines,” May 2026. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-officials-voting-machines_n_6a104120e4b0f1ba1f64e15fSourceCNN, “How Howard Lutnick’s Commerce Department became an unlikely engine of Trump’s election agenda,” September 10, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/10/politics/howard-lutnick-commerce-department-trumps-election-agendaRelated Reuters/HuffPost reporting from May 2026 documents that Kurt Olsen — the White House official Reynolds and Huff were connected to — had previously pushed to have Commerce declare Dominion Voting Systems (now Liberty Vote) components a national-security risk, including discussion of unsubstantiated claims about “Venezuelan code” in the machines; Commerce’s supply-chain risk office considered but did not act on that request.

Pattern: Private-actor coordination with senior federal officials to pursue an executive-branch designation that would functionally decertify state-selected voting equipment ahead of a federal election.

5. Two Republican primary candidacies for U.S. House (2014, 2022)

SourceElectconrad.com (Reynolds’s own 2022 campaign site — primary source, not independent), “Meet Conrad.” https://electconrad.com/meet-conrad/SourceBallotpedia, “Conrad Reynolds,” candidate biography (nonpartisan reference). https://ballotpedia.org/Conrad_ReynoldsEvidence: Reynolds ran in the Republican primary for Arkansas’s 2nd Congressional District in 2014 and 2022, losing both primaries to incumbent Rep. French Hill. His 2022 campaign was managed by Will Huff.

Pattern: Two-time federal candidacy; establishes voluntary-public-figure status and network anchor.

Pattern Analysis

Cross-References

Reynolds’s documented conduct sits at the seam between state-court election-system litigation, county-level ballot organizing to dismantle certified voting infrastructure, and — per CNN reporting based on federal emails — direct advocacy with senior federal officials to have voting machines declared a national-security threat ahead of the 2026 midterms. The federal-advocacy channel is the highest-consequence element of the profile: it targets executive-branch action that would sidestep the state-level certification process and could, if executed, functionally decertify state-selected equipment for a federal election. The Arkansas Supreme Court unanimously rejected AVII’s central legal theory on the merits.

Related profiles:

• Will Huff — Anti-Voting-Machine Consultant and Political Operative (co-host of The Colonel of Truth; 2022 campaign manager; co-participant in the documented federal meetings)

Related skills:

• election-law-and-administration (HAVA framework; certification and administration of voting systems)
• election-threat-scoring (threat framing for private-actor coordination with federal officials on machine designations)
• election-interference-defense-2026 (2026 midterm threat inventory)
• public-corruption-ombudsman (evidence tiers and accountability categories)
• patriot-private-citizen-inclusion-gate (governs inclusion for non-officials)

Severity Assessment

Immediate harm: Moderate — The Commerce Department did not act on the Lutnick pitch; AVII’s state suit failed; the misdemeanor case is pending. The Independence County hand-count regime has taken effect for local administration. Democratic erosion: High — The documented pattern of private-actor advocacy for a federal executive-branch designation that would functionally decertify state-selected voting equipment ahead of a federal election is a template for pre-election disruption regardless of whether this particular pitch was rejected. Authoritarian marker: (a) coordinated private-actor pressure on the executive branch to reclassify certified election infrastructure as a national-security threat; (b) county-by-county dismantling of certified voting systems.

Accountability Status

Current status: Active — founder/CEO of Arkansas Voter Integrity Initiative; misdemeanor case pending in Independence County; not currently a candidate for office.

Legal exposure:

• Ark. Code § 7-1-103 (electioneering within 100 feet of polling entrance) — pending Class A misdemeanor charge; underlying statute the subject of a federal constitutional challenge (Norris v. State, filed January 2026).
• No documented federal criminal or civil exposure at present. The federal meetings documented by CNN did not, on the record so far, result in any executive action.

Congressional oversight:

• House Administration Committee / Senate Rules Committee (federal election administration; HAVA implementation; DHS/CISA coordination on election infrastructure).
• House Oversight and Accountability (executive-branch communications with private actors on election-system designations).
• House/Senate Commerce (Secretary Lutnick’s handling of national-security-designation requests targeting voting equipment).

Public accountability:

• American Oversight (FOIA production that surfaced the White House / Commerce meetings, per CNN reporting).
• Arkansas Secretary of State’s office and Arkansas State Board of Election Commissioners (defendants in AVII v. Thurston; referral source for the misdemeanor).
• Ongoing state-court prosecution by court-appointed special prosecutor (Independence County misdemeanor).

Truth and Reconciliation Considerations

Investigation priorities

1. Obtain the full American Oversight FOIA production underlying the CNN story: the calendar entries, email chains, and any briefing documents exchanged between Reynolds/Huff and Susie Wiles, Ed Martin, Kurt Olsen, and Howard Lutnick, including any drafts of the “plan” pitched to Commerce.
2. Identify every federal official (White House, DOJ, Commerce, DHS/CISA, ODNI) who received briefings from Reynolds or AVII between January 2025 and the 2026 general election, and what Commerce’s supply-chain risk office documented in its review.
3. Trace AVII’s funding: obtain 501(c)(4) filings, any donor-advised-fund pass-throughs, and Arkansas Ethics Commission / FEC records tied to Reynolds’s 2014 and 2022 congressional campaigns.
4. Document AVII’s coordination network with other state-level “voter integrity” organizations and its role — if any — in the drafting of the ballot language used in Independence County and any successor counties.
5. Establish the evidentiary basis (or lack thereof) for any claims Reynolds and AVII presented to Commerce about specific voting-system vendors, including whether those claims restated the “Venezuelan code” and Dominion/Liberty Vote allegations Reuters documented as unsubstantiated.

Testimony value

Compelled testimony from Reynolds could uniquely illuminate the content and mechanics of the private-actor-to-executive-branch channel documented by CNN: what materials were presented to Wiles, Martin, Olsen, and Lutnick; who at the White House initiated versus received the outreach; what specific executive actions were requested; whether classified or law-enforcement-sensitive material was shared or requested; and how AVII’s federal advocacy interlocked with the concurrent Commerce-Department-facing push by Kurt Olsen. Reynolds is one of the few identified private-actor endpoints of that channel.

Institutional reform

• Statutory reform: Amend HAVA and the Election Assistance Commission’s role to require public notice-and-comment before any executive-branch reclassification of certified voting-system components as national-security risks within a defined pre-election window.
• New legislation: Prohibit executive-branch decertification of state-selected voting equipment absent a documented finding by the Election Assistance Commission or a court of competent jurisdiction, with a private right of action for state election officials.
• Oversight mechanisms: Require Commerce Department and White House logging of all meetings between senior officials and private actors seeking national-security designations affecting election infrastructure, with disclosure to relevant congressional committees on a defined timeline.
• Professional standards: Formalize a state prosecutorial protocol for polling-place proximity offenses that distinguishes electioneering from bona fide research/journalism/exit polling, addressing the vagueness concern in the Norris federal challenge.

Cross-References

Skills: election-law-and-administration, election-threat-scoring, election-interference-defense-2026, public-corruption-ombudsman, patriot-private-citizen-inclusion-gate

Related profiles: Will Huff — Anti-Voting-Machine Consultant and Political Operative

Topics: arkansas, voting-machines, hand-marked-paper-ballots, help-america-vote-act, election-integrity-movement, commerce-department, national-security-designation, avii, independence-county, election-litigation

Investigative trail pointers (public records)

Education only — verify independently. Absence of hits is not proof.

Use public-records-research-specialist, corporate-intelligence-investigator, and public-corruption-ombudsman evidence tiers.

Factcheck Notice

Factual correction requests: If you believe information in this profile is incorrect, please contact factcheck@patriot.university with your name (optional), the specific claim, and any supporting documentation. We review all submissions and correct verified errors promptly.

Sources

1. CourtListener, “Arkansas Voter Integrity Initiative, Inc. and Conrad Reynolds v. John Thurston” (Ark. Sup. Ct. CV-23-755), April 4, 2024. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/9490777/arkansas-voter-integrity-initiative-inc-and-conrad-reynolds-v-john/
2. Justia, “Arkansas Voter Integrity Initiative v. Thurston, CV-23-755,” 2024. https://law.justia.com/cases/arkansas/supreme-court/2024/cv-23-755.html
3. Arkansas Attorney General, “Attorney General Griffin addresses election-related charges filed by his office,” October 9, 2025. https://arkansasag.gov/news-release/attorney-general-griffin-addresses-election-related-charges-filed-by-his-office/
4. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, “Paper-ballot advocate faces Arkansas misdemeanor,” October 9, 2025. https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2025/oct/09/paper-ballot-advocate-faces-arkansas-misdemeanor/?latest=
5. KAIT8, “Two men plead not guilty to election law violations in Independence County,” October 15, 2025. https://www.kait8.com/2025/10/15/two-men-plead-not-guilty-election-law-violations-independence-county/
6. White River Now, “Video leads to election law charges against two in Independence County,” October 10, 2025. https://www.whiterivernow.com/2025/10/10/video-leads-to-election-law-charges-against-two-in-independence-county/
7. South Arkansas Daily, “Sec of State candidate Bryan Norris files federal lawsuit challenging Arkansas election law as unconstitutional,” January 2026. https://southarkdaily.com/sec-of-state-candidate-bryan-norris-files-federal-lawsuit-challenging-arkansas-election-law-as-unconstitutional/
8. CNN, “How Howard Lutnick’s Commerce Department became an unlikely engine of Trump’s election agenda,” September 10, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/10/politics/howard-lutnick-commerce-department-trumps-election-agenda
9. Reuters (via HuffPost), “Trump Official Tried To Ban Half Of U.S. Voting Machines,” May 2026. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-officials-voting-machines_n_6a104120e4b0f1ba1f64e15f
10. Ballotpedia, “Conrad Reynolds,” nonpartisan candidate biography. https://ballotpedia.org/Conrad_Reynolds
11. Electconrad.com (primary source, not independent), “Meet Conrad.” https://electconrad.com/meet-conrad/
12. Arkansas Voter Integrity Initiative (primary source, not independent), “A Call for Transparent Elections in Arkansas.” https://arkansasvii.org/a-call-for-transparent-elections-in-arkansas/

Last Updated: 2026-09-10 Profile Status: Published — under continuing review Next Review: Monthly (through 2026 midterm cycle)

Corrections

Correction [2026-09-10]: Clarified that the pending misdemeanor charge against Reynolds is not a basis for the article’s inclusion criteria, correcting the earlier framing that listed it alongside conduct that does justify inclusion. Source: Ark. Code § 7-1-103; Documented Action 3.