Judge rules DOJ lawsuit to block Alaska Senate certification is infeasible

Federal courts in Juneau have become a flashpoint in the contentious Alaska U.S. Senate race.

U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit on Sunday that sought to halt the certification of election results if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses to Democratic challenger Mary Peltola.

The legal action, filed less than two weeks before the Tuesday election, focused on a retired teacher named Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. who also appears on the ballot.

The Justice Department argued that an investigation was necessary to determine if votes cast for the teacher were intended for the senator.

The state of Alaska countered that the case lacked merit and that determining voter intent would violate privacy.

Judge Gleason rejected this argument in a written order, labeling the requested relief as infeasible.

She noted that many voters had already cast their ballots during the early voting period.

The judge explained that these ballots had been commingled to the point where the identity of the voter could no longer be determined.

She wrote that the United States provided no workable plan to segregate Election Day ballots and conduct a court-ordered investigation while preserving voter secrecy.

The dispute over the second Sullivan has dominated the final days of the campaign.

Republicans suspect that Peltola’s campaign recruited the teacher to confuse voters.

They point to a New York Times report based on interviews, text messages, and campaign finance documents showing a Peltola-backed group paid an operative to recruit decoy candidates. "There is no way this went on for a year that they weren’t informing her," Sullivan told CNN’s State of the Union. "She got caught lying, and she’s still lying to the Alaskan people, the media, to all of us." Peltola has maintained that she had nothing to do with recruiting the other candidate. She called the attention on the issue a distraction from high prices caused by the war in Iran. Before a rally on Friday, Peltola told KTUU that she had no idea if someone on her campaign was involved. "I have no idea," she said. "I honestly have no idea." President Trump ordered the Justice Department to file the lawsuit and has called for Peltola to be prosecuted. Federal agents have issued subpoenas in the case. The Republican governor has ordered his own investigation and suggested he may not certify a Peltola victory. Tim Scott, the South Carolina senator who heads the Republican Senate campaign group, said on NBC’s Meet the Press that criminal charges might make sense. "We know that it is criminal for candidates to work in collusion with other parties to confuse voters," Scott said. Jamie Raskin, a Democratic congressman from Maryland, described the strategy as stupid politics. He noted that candidates with the same name as others on the ballot happens all over the place. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent senator, agreed that the strategy was dumb but noted it is not illegal. Sullivan said he would let lawyers determine if crimes were committed. He expressed confidence that the second Sullivan would cost him votes. "I’m sure I’m going to lose a lot of votes to that trickery," Sullivan said. He stated he would accept the results of the election.