A federal district judge on Sunday dismissed the Department of Justice’s lawsuit that sought to block certification of the election if a third-party candidate with the same name as the incumbent senator, Dan S. Sullivan, causes voter confusion that leads to a Democratic candidate winning the seat.
In a Sunday order, U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason ruled that the Department of Justice (DOJ) doesn’t have the capacity to bring the lawsuit. Further, she noted the election would be held on Nov. 3 and that ballots are already prepared.
“More fundamentally, the United States provides no workable plan as to how it proposes to segregate ballots cast for Daniel J. Sullivan on Election Day and then conduct a court-ordered unspecified ‘investigation’ of those ballots in a manner that would preserve voter secrecy,” the judge wrote.
The DOJ filed an amended legal complaint seeking to enjoin state officials from certifying the election if Sullivan loses in a close race and if votes for the other candidate, Dan. J. Sullivan, pared away enough voters from the incumbent to hand the Democrat, former House lawmaker Mary Peltola, a win. Alaska has a ranked-choice voting system that allows voters to rate candidates in their order of preference.
The new filing had incorporated claims made in a New York Times report last week that Peltola’s campaign and Democrats had sought to find a candidate with the same name as the Republican senator, ultimately recruiting Dan. J. Sullivan, a retired teacher, into the race.
Both Peltola, in a recent public appearance in the state capital of Juneau, and Dan J. Sullivan have denied allegations of collusion. In June, Dan J. Sullivan said in response to claims made by a state official that the shared name is a “matter of fate.”
“I just want to clear the air,” Peltola said at a bar in Juneau, Alaska, last week. “I knew nothing about any other candidate on the ballot except for me and the incumbent. That is all I have ever known about. I am not interested in tricking voters.”
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, on Oct. 29 ordered the state to investigate claims that emerged in the New York Times report, writing on X that “disturbing new evidence of an organized effort to manipulate Alaska’s elections” may have been uncovered.
The Alaska Supreme Court had signed off on the third-party Dan J. Sullivan’s candidacy, with the DOJ filing its lawsuit in October. The lawsuit had asked Gleason to segregate ballots and block certification should any voter confusion arise.
The DOJ had argued to the judge that Dan J. Sullivan entered the race to confuse voters in an alleged scheme designed to “benefit the Peltola campaign” and reduce votes cast for Sen. Sullivan.
“When voters are unable to fairly cast ballots in federal elections, the United States suffers irreparable harm,” the Justice Department said.
Democrats hailed Gleason’s ruling on Sunday, claiming the DOJ was effectively attempting to subvert the state’s electoral process.
“No one, no matter how powerful, can toss out free and fair elections just because they don’t like the result,” the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said in a statement,” adding that “we are confident Alaska voters will elect Mary Peltola to the Senate.”
Ahead of the Tuesday midterm elections, Republicans currently hold small majorities in both the House of Representatives and Senate. A nonpartisan forecaster, the Cook Political Report, said it favored Democrats to win and gave the party a small edge in the Senate in a projection issued Oct. 30.
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