The Justice Department is taking its fight over Alaska's Senate election to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after a federal judge threw out its lawsuit seeking to delay certification of the race, which features two candidates named Dan Sullivan.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason dismissed the case Sunday, two days before the midterm elections, finding the government had not shown how the investigation it sought could identify voters' intent while preserving ballot secrecy. Gleason, a nominee of former President Barack Obama, also wrote that the relief sought would intrude on Alaska's responsibility to run its elections. The DOJ filed its notice of appeal the same day.
"Alaskan voters deserve a fair election, not to be misled in an attempt to rig outcomes," DOJ spokesperson Kiersten Pels said in a statement to NPR confirming the appeal.
The lawsuit centered on the presence of Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. on the ballot alongside Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan. President Trump ordered the suit filed, according to NPR, because two of the four Senate candidates share substantially similar names. The Alaska Republican Party had previously tried to keep Sullivan Jr. off the ballot in state court, but the Alaska Supreme Court ruled in June that he has the right to run.
The dispute escalated after The New York Times reported that people connected to Democratic nominee Mary Peltola's campaign helped recruit Sullivan Jr. to run as a spoiler. Peltola has denied involvement, and Sullivan Jr. has denied coordinating with her campaign. NPR said it has not independently confirmed the Times report."
The DOJ has argued the judge dismissed the case on procedural grounds without addressing its core claim that Sullivan Jr. entered the race to confuse voters. Gleason found the federal government lacked the ability to bring the suit, which cited the preamble of the National Voter Registration Act. "The absence of any explanation from the United States as to how its requested relief could redress its alleged injury while simultaneously maintaining the secrecy of the ballot is telling," she wrote.
Sen. Sullivan said Sunday he would accept the results of Tuesday's election even as the Trump administration pursues a criminal investigation into Sullivan Jr.'s candidacy. The senator declined to say whether he would support efforts to refuse certification. Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, has ordered a state investigation and suggested he may not certify a Peltola victory.
Alaska uses ranked-choice voting, under which lower-performing candidates are eliminated and their supporters' ballots reassigned. The race could help determine which party controls the Senate.
The appeal means the case moves up the federal courts immediately before Election Day, with no ruling expected before polls close.
Our Take
Here's what the legacy media won't say plainly: a Democratic nominee's orbit was reported to have helped recruit a man with the same name as the Republican incumbent, and when the Trump Justice Department tried to make sure every Alaskan ballot counted as intended, an Obama-appointed judge slammed the door two days before the vote. The ACLU's Sophia Lin Lakin called the DOJ's effort "a reckless waste of taxpayer money aimed at silencing hundreds of thousands of Alaska voters." Silencing voters is exactly what happens when a ballot is designed to trick them.
The courts can argue about standing and ballot secrecy all they want, but Alaskans casting a vote for "Dan Sullivan" deserve to know which one they're getting. The Ninth Circuit now carries that question, and voters should remember which side argued the confusion was just fine.
