Trump DOJ Seeks to Block Alaska Senate Certification Over 4,107 Votes as 2 Sullivans Split Ballot
Updated
Updated · CNN · Oct 22
Trump DOJ Seeks to Block Alaska Senate Certification Over 4,107 Votes as 2 Sullivans Split Ballot
3 articles · Updated · CNN · Oct 22
Summary
The Justice Department asked a federal court to stop Alaska from certifying the Senate race if Dan Sullivan loses, arguing votes for Daniel J. Sullivan could have altered the result.
DOJ says the duplicate name could matter in Alaska’s ranked-choice system, where miscast first-choice votes might ultimately help Democrat Mary Peltola in later tabulation rounds.
Election law experts called the theory highly unusual, saying DOJ is stretching the National Voter Registration Act’s preface and would struggle to prove confusion after ballots are co-mingled.
Alaska officials already labeled the incumbent as “Dan S. Sullivan,” “incumbent,” and “Registered Republican,” while the other Sullivan appeared without a party label after the state supreme court kept him on the ballot.
The case lands before Judge Sharon L. Gleason with no emergency request yet, and certification pressure may build when ranked-choice tabulation begins on November 18 in a race that could decide Senate control.