An Alaska judge on Wednesday denied Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola's attempt to force state election officials to hand over data on rejected absentee ballots in her closely watched race against Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, ruling the campaign's demand was 'not reasonable,' according to the Washington Examiner.
Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews issued the ruling from the bench after the Peltola campaign sought an immediate list of absentee voters whose ballots had been rejected in a contest that remains uncalled. The decision is a setback for Peltola, who has seen her vote share climb in recent days as additional ballots are tallied.
Reuters reported on X that the judge found the request for the immediate release of records identifying rejected absentee ballots 'was not reasonable.' The Peltola campaign had argued it needed the data to scrutinize how election officials were handling mail-in and absentee ballots in one of the nation's last undecided U.S. Senate contests.
The ruling comes as Peltola has surged ahead in the vote count. According to the latest tally, Peltola now leads Sullivan 49% to 47.2%, with election officials counting more than 24,000 additional votes Tuesday. The Associated Press estimates 84% of votes have been counted, with the Division of Elections scheduled to release more results Friday.
Peltola's campaign manager, Cheryl Bruce, issued a statement after Tuesday's results update claiming her team is 'exceptionally confident' Peltola will be elected once every vote is counted.
'Once again, today's ballot drop makes it abundantly clear that Mary is on her way to a decisive victory, and there is not a viable path to reelection for Senator Sullivan,' Bruce said in a statement.
The race has been roiled by the candidacy of Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. of Petersburg, who remains in last place with 4,027 votes — roughly 200 fewer than the number currently separating the two front-runners. Sen. Sullivan and his allies say Democrats recruited the similarly named candidate to confuse voters, and the Trump administration has sued to block certification if the Senate race is certified for Peltola.
The judge's ruling Wednesday means the Peltola campaign will not get the rejected-ballot list it sought, at least not on the timeline it demanded. The campaign had argued the information was necessary to assess whether rejected ballots were handled properly, but Matthews found the request failed to meet the legal standard for immediate disclosure.
Peltola, a former congresswoman, is seeking to unseat Sullivan, a Republican first elected to the Senate in 2014. The contest is one of the most closely watched of the midterm elections and could determine control of the Senate.
The Alaska Division of Elections is continuing to count ballots, with the next update expected Friday. The race remains uncalled by the Associated Press.
Our Take
Here's what Wednesday's ruling actually tells us: when a Democratic campaign demands election officials hand over the names and data of voters whose ballots were rejected — before the count is even finished — and a judge calls that request 'not reasonable,' patriots should sit up and pay attention.
Peltola's campaign wanted a list of Alaskans whose absentee ballots didn't count. Think about that. In a race where Peltola is suddenly climbing past a sitting Republican senator, her team wanted the names of rejected voters. They said they needed it to make sure election officials were doing their jobs. But Judge Matthews saw the request for what it was — overreach that doesn't meet the legal bar.
Alaskans deserve a Senate race where every legal vote is counted, and no campaign gets special access to the personal data of voters whose ballots were rejected. The judge got this one right. Now the question is whether the count itself stays clean through Friday's update — and whether the Trump administration's lawsuit to block certification if Peltola is declared the winner holds up.
The name game with Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. is no accident, folks. Democrats know exactly what they're doing. Keep your eyes on Alaska.
