Democrats ask judge to toss DOJ’s ‘wholly baseless’ bid to block Alaska election if GOP loses

Democratic candidate Mary Peltola and her party asked a federal court in Alaska to throw out the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) unprecedented lawsuit that seeks to preemptively block certification of Alaska’s U.S. Senate race if the Republican incumbent loses.

“This case never should have been filed,” lawyers for Alaskans for Mary and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee* (DSCC) wrote in the filing Sunday night.  “DOJ’s Complaint is wholly baseless. The fact that DOJ nonetheless chose to file it raises profound constitutional concerns.”

The DOJ sued Alaska’s Division of Elections last week, saying that the appearance of Daniel J. Sullivan on the ballot threatens to confuse voters who wanted to vote for the incumbent, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R). The lawsuit said Alaska should not certify the election if Sen. Sullivan lost and Daniel J. Sullivan netted enough votes to cover the margin of victory. 

To support its claim, the DOJ cited “a federal statute that regulates only voter registration and has literally nothing to say about which candidates are listed on a State’s ballot or how the candidates’ names are displayed,” as Peltola and the DSCC put it in Sunday’s filing. 

Election law experts have excoriated the suit, predicting a swift loss in court thanks to its numerous flaws. 

The DOJ lawsuit also fundamentally misunderstands how Alaska’s Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV) works — any confused would-be Sullivan voters could rank the other Sullivan number two on their ballots, ensuring that their preferred Sullivan gets their vote after the other is eliminated.  Sen. Sullivan’s campaign recently urged voters to do just that in an ad. 

To mitigate confusion, Alaska’s 2026 ballot clearly labels Sen. Sullivan as the incumbent, something it had not done on prior ballots.

“DOJ does not allege any facts plausibly showing actual voter confusion, much less ones that could possibly warrant the sweeping and unprecedented investigation into voters’ motivations that the Complaint demands,” the Democratic filing argued. 

In its filings, the DOJ offers no mechanism for election officials to distinguish between votes intentionally cast for Daniel J. Sullivan and those mistakenly cast for him. 

The Constitution provides that states, not the federal government, administer elections. And voters have differentiated among similar-named candidates plenty of times in the past. 

In a related filing, the Democrats asked the court to move quickly on their motions, citing the upcoming electoral deadline. The Democrats asked the court to direct the DOJ and Alaska to respond by close of business Tuesday, allowing for a reply from the Democrats Wednesday, followed by a quick ruling. 

President Donald Trump boasted Friday that he had ordered the lawsuit. Over the weekend, Attorney General Todd Blanche defended its filing in interviews, blaming RCV — long a conservative peeve —for the extraordinary interference in Alaskan elections.

The lawsuit has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason, who was appointed by President Barack Obama.

*The Elias Law Group (ELG) represents the intervenors in this case. ELG Firm Chair Marc Elias is the founder of Democracy Docket.