The state of Alaska asked a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the Justice Department that seeks to intervene in a high-stakes U.S. Senate race, calling the legal challenge “meritless” in a filing on Saturday. At the center of the dispute are federal demands to put aside ballots that state officials say are simply impossible to accommodate under current voter laws.
Justice Department Seeks Ballot Segregation over Similar Names
The Justice Department filed the lawsuit last week, pointing to potential voter confusion stemming from a ballot that features two candidates with strikingly similar names. Retiree Dan J. Sullivan Jr. shares the ballot with Republican incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, who is currently locked in a close race with Democratic challenger Mary Peltola. Responding to those concerns on Friday, the Justice Department asked the court to order Alaska to “preserve and segregate” ballots that rank Daniel J. Sullivan.
Under Alaska’s voting system, citizens rank the four finalists in order of preference. But separating out specific ballots presents a massive operational roadblock for local election officials.
State Officials Defend Ballot Secrecy Against Federal Request
State officials pushed back hard against the federal request in their Saturday filing, explaining that election designers explicitly tried to minimize confusion by printing the words “Republican” and “incumbent” right next to the senator’s name. The state argued that segregating the disputed ballots would be “inappropriate and not even possible.” Doing so would require election workers to directly ask a voter which Sullivan they meant to rank, a practice that would directly violate state laws designed to protect voter ballot secrecy.
