A federal judge yesterday threw out a lawsuit by President Donald Trump’s administration seeking to block Alaska from certifying a loss by Republican Senator Dan Sullivan in tomorrow’s midterm elections if votes for a rival who shares his name could have changed the outcome.
The ruling by US District Judge Sharon Gleason in Anchorage was the latest blow to Trump’s efforts to assert a greater federal role in elections, which under the US Constitution are administered by the states.
Democratic former US Representative Mary Peltola is challenging Sullivan in the race, whose outcome could prove critical for determining whether Trump’s fellow Republicans can retain control of the Senate in the midterms. Democrats need a net gain of at least four seats in November’s midterm elections to gain control of the Senate.
Alaska’s ballot features the names of the incumbent senator, Daniel S Sullivan, and Peltola, as well as a retired teacher whose name is Daniel J Sullivan Jr, and another long-shot candidate.
Peltola has denied involvement in any effort to recruit Daniel J Sullivan, who lives in a remote fishing village, to enter the race, saying at a rally that she is ‘not interested in tricking voters’. The retired teacher has denied in interviews with US news outlets that his aim is to cause confusion, but has said he would prefer Peltola winning over the incumbent senator.
In her decision, Gleason wrote that the administration’s proposal to segregate ballots would violate the right of voters in Alaska to a secret ballot, and dismissed the case on the basis that the federal government lacked the necessary legal standing to bring it.
“The United States provides no workable plan as to how it proposes to segregate ballots cast for Daniel J Sullivan on Election Day and then conduct a court-ordered unspecified ‘investigation’ of those ballots in a manner that would preserve voter secrecy,” Gleason wrote.
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