The Department of Justice faces an uphill legal battle in Alaska, where it is trying to convince a federal court that confusion between two Senate candidates with nearly identical names could be enough to delay certification of the election results. Roughly two weeks before Election Day on Oct. 22, the DOJ filed a federal lawsuit seeking to delay certification if Sen. Dan Sullivan loses and votes cast for another candidate named Daniel J.
Sullivan could have changed the result, pending an investigation into whether voters mistakenly selected the wrong candidate. The DOJ's complaint stems from a controversy in Alaska where two individuals by the name of Dan Sullivan, one a retired school teacher and the other the state’s incumbent senator, appear alongside each other on the state’s ballots. Although Alaska has traditionally been a Republican stronghold in Senate elections, the state's race could carry greater national significance this year as Republicans seek to defend their narrow Senate majority.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that the campaign of Mary Peltola, the Democrat running for Senate in Alaska, reportedly worked with operatives to recruit another Dan Sullivan to run for Alaska’s Senate seat, hoping voter confusion would draw support from the incumbent Republican senator. Citing interviews, text messages and documents prepared for a potential lawsuit, the Times reported that the effort also targeted other potential spoiler candidates, despite the Peltola campaign’s repeated denials of involvement in the second Sullivan’s candidacy. TODD BLANCHE CHALLENGES DANA BASH FOR ONLY CITING PART OF CONSTITUTION DURING HEATED ELECTION CLASH On Sunday, Peltola's campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee filed a proposed motion to dismiss the Justice Department's lawsuit, arguing that the federal law cited by the DOJ governs voter registration, not candidate eligibility or ballot design.
They also urged the court to resolve the case before Election Day. Conservatives have argued that two similar names on the same ballot could possibly lead to voters who would prefer to reelect the state’s Republican senator accidentally voting for the retired school teacher. Opponents of the effort to remove Daniel J.
Sullivan from the ballot argue that sharing a name with an incumbent is not grounds for disqualification and that Alaska's ranked-choice voting system allows voters to rank both candidates, potentially limiting the effects of mistaken selections. Alaska’s Division of Elections initially sided with conservatives, disqualifying Sullivan the school teacher by finding that his candidacy was not a genuine, good-faith bid for office but instead was designed to confuse voters into mistaking him for the senator. Alaska Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews overturned the decision in June, holding that the Division of Elections had no authority to void a candidacy on that basis.
Alaska's general election ballot identifies the incumbent as "Sullivan, Dan S.," with Republican and incumbent designations, while listing the other candidate as "Sullivan, Daniel J. Jr.," without a party affiliation, a measure some argue is enough to clear up potential confusion. Lawyers at the Justice Department, however, remain unconvinced.
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