DOJ asks appeals court to greenlight effort to overturn Alaska’s election result

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) asked a federal appeals court Sunday to overturn a ruling that dismissed DOJ’s bid to block certification of  Alaska’s U.S. Senate election should the GOP incumbent lose*.

The appeal comes hours after U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason ruled against DOJ’s lawsuit over Alaska’s election. Gleason’s order also ensures the state cannot be forced to keep and segregate ballots of those who cast a vote for an independent candidate.

The DOJ sued Alaska late last month as part of the Trump administration’s multipronged effort to interfere in states’ constitutional power to administer elections. Alaska hosts one of the key Senate races that could determine control of the chamber

The DOJ pointed to the possibility of voter confusion because the independent candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan, has a name that’s similar to that of the GOP incumbent, Sen. Dan Sullivan.

As a remedy, the department asked the court to block the state from certifying “any result that may be impacted by voter confusion… pending an investigation to determine whether votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan were meant to be cast for Senator Sullivan.”

Gleason denied the DOJ’s request because it offered “no workable plan” for separating ballots and then investigating whether voters who selected Daniel J. Sullivan actually intended to support the incumbent.

“Requiring the segregation of ballots cast by voters for Daniel J. Sullivan so that these voters can be further investigated by law enforcement is not a remedy that this Court can or should order,” Gleason wrote, saying it would violate Alaskans’ right to a secret ballot.

Further, Alaska employs ranked-choice voting, which allows voters to rank more than one candidate. The Alaska Supreme Court weighed in on the issue four months ago and ruled that ballots printed would clearly identify the candidates’ party and label Sen. Sullivan as the incumbent.

Gleason emphasized that the DOJ’s request violated Alaska’s constitutional right to run its own elections. 

“These requests certainly involve the time, place, and manner of Alaska’s election, which are the responsibilities of the State, not the executive branch of the federal government,” she wrote.

*The Elias Law Group (ELG) represents the Peltola campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in this case. ELG Firm Chair Marc Elias is the founder of Democracy Docket.