Democrats fight DOJ bid to block Alaska election if GOP loses

Candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic Party want to fight the Department of Justice’s dubious lawsuit to preemptively block certification of Alaska’s U.S. Senate race if anyone other than the Republican incumbent wins.

Alaskans for Mary and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee* filed a motion to intervene in the case overnight, calling the Trump administration’s attempted interference an “extraordinary assault” on democracy and “insulting” to the people of Alaska.

“In an unprecedented pre-emptive strike on democratic elections, the Department of Justice—acting on the President’s personal orders—demands that this Court enjoin the certification of the ongoing U.S. Senate election, but only if the President’s preferred candidate loses,” the groups wrote.

“Alaskans, apparently, must elect Senator Dan S. Sullivan or the President will not let them elect anyone at all. But the federal government has no power to impose that Hobson’s choice on the people of this State,” they added, using a term that describes a situation that provides only the illusion of choice.

On Friday, President Donald Trump boasted that he ordered the dangerous lawsuit, claiming that another candidate in the race with the same first and last name as incumbent GOP Sen. Sullivan was a “fake” intended to confuse voters.

Alaska’s voting system advances the top four vote-receivers in the primary to the general election. This year’s ballot includes former Democratic U.S. Rep. Peltola, Sen. Sullivan, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. and Gerald L. Heikes.

The Alaska Supreme Court already litigated the issue and ruled this summer that the second Sullivan can remain on the ballot – something Peltola’s campaign and the DSCC noted in their motion to intervene.

The DOJ’s “assumption that every voter who casts a vote for Daniel J. Sullivan really meant to vote for Senator Sullivan is insulting to voters and irreconcilable with Alaska’s ranked-choice voting procedures and the ballot’s clear differentiation between the two candidates,” they wrote.

Polls show a close race between Peltola and Sen. Sullivan. If Peltola wins, she will be the first Democrat to win the seat in nearly two decades.

“If Peltola receives the most votes at the conclusion of the ranked-choice voting process, the Complaint seeks a judicial order that would prevent her election from being certified pending some undefined (and obviously unworkable) ‘investigation’ to determine whether votes cast for one candidate ‘were meant to be cast’ for another,” the Peltola campaign and the DSCC wrote in the motion to intervene.

“Lest there be any doubt, the [DOJ] Complaint is crystal clear that the relief it seeks is specifically intended to guard against a Peltola victory,” they added.

The Trump administration’s lawsuit names the state of Alaska and Alaska Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher, as well as the state election board, as defendants.

Peltola’s campaign and the DSCC said they are concerned the named defendants won’t adequately push back on the DOJ’s demand, which they said “directly threatens” their interests.

“It is part of a nationwide attack on free elections by the federal government, which the DSCC has fought at every turn,” they argued. “And there is reason to doubt that the existing defendants will vigorously defend against DOJ’s demands, given their effort to exclude Daniel J. Sullivan from the ballot earlier this year.”

They said state officials “may have incentives to settle the case on terms favorable to DOJ in order to avoid potential retaliation from DOJ (or the federal government more broadly).”

“The Court should grant this Motion and, ultimately, dismiss this case,” the groups wrote.

Other parties have also moved to get involved in the case. Two Alaska voters, the League of Women Voters of Alaska and Common Cause filed their own motion to intervene as defendants. They are being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The groups said they have a “unique interest in standing up for the rights of Alaska voters and resisting the United States’ unprecedented request to invalidate a free and fair election result.”

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