Segregating Alaska ballots violates constitutional right to secret votes, Democrats argue

Forcing Alaska to set aside ballots ranking an alleged spoiler candidate would violate the constitutional right to cast secret votes, Democrats* argued in an objection to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) request to speed up the lawsuit.

DOJ preemptively sued Alaska to prevent it from certifying the U.S. Senate race, arguing the presence of two candidates named Daniel Sullivan on the ballot would confuse voters who intend to vote for the Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan. The DOJ escalated its suit Friday when it asked a federal court to force Alaska to retain and separate the ballots the Trump administration argues will be impacted by “voter confusion” because of Daniel J. Sullivan’s senatorial bid.

Alaskans for Mary and Senate Democrats joined the suit against the DOJ in Alaska to argue this ballot segregation is “irreconcilable with Alaska’s voting procedures and a direct affront to Alaskans’ constitutional right to a secret ballot.”

“No matter how Daniel J. Sullivan came to run or what his reasons were for running, the statement of purpose of the [National Voter Registration Act] does not empower DOJ to interfere with the certification of Alaska’s U.S. Senate election in accordance wth Alaska law,” Democrats added.

DOJ has argued that some of the votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan may have been intended for the Republican incumbent senator instead. However, Alaska uses ranked-choice voting, and voters have the option of ranking both Sullivans above the Democratic nominee Mary Peltola. 

The Alaska State Board of Elections filed a motion Thursday asking the court to reject the suit.

“It rests on the same meritless theory that the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) — a voter registration law — governs this case, which has nothing to do with voter registration,” the board wrote as it reminded judges of a “fast-approaching election.”

The board also reminded judges that many Alaskans have already voted, with Election Day now three days away. There have been 77,749 total early votes cast in the state so far.

*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.