U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason dismissed a Department of Justice lawsuit that sought to delay or block election results if Sen. Dan Sullivan loses.
The Justice Department wanted the judge to halt the certification of the election pending an investigation into whether voters who chose the other Dan Sullivan on the ballot were confused. Gleason said it’s not possible.
“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 said in a 20-page decision Sunday morning.
The decision comes just two days before Election Day. The government is likely to appeal, but at least for the moment, the decision closes the door on one element of the federal government’s attempt to involve itself in Alaska’s Senate race. The contest, primarily between Sen. Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola, is one of a handful of toss-up races that will decide which party controls the upper chamber of Congress.
President Donald Trump, who said he ordered the Justice Department lawsuit, has claimed for months that a second Dan Sullivan on Alaska’s ballot could confuse voters and siphon votes away from the Republican incumbent of the same name. The president, as well as Sen. Sullivan and other Republicans, call the challenger, a retired teacher in Petersburg, a “sham” and a “hoax.”
The Justice Department case, filed Oct. 22, sought to block the state “from certifying any result that may be impacted by voter confusion.” It says confusion might be at play if Sen. Sullivan loses but would have won if votes for both Sullivans were counted for him. The federal attorneys asked for an order requiring the state to “preserve and segregate” ballots marked for the challenger Sullivan “pending an investigation” into whether the voter was confused.
The state, represented by the Alaska Department of Law, called the idea “half-baked” and said an investigation would be impossible, since ballots don’t have voters’ names on them and are comingled in the ballot box to protect voter privacy.
“The Court cannot order the Division to instruct poll workers to intercept and examine voters’ ballots before voters feed them into the voting machines to ‘segregate’ those that rank (challenger) Daniel J.,” the state response says.
The Division of Elections says the ballot already minimizes voter confusion. One candidate is listed as Dan S. Sullivan, Republican incumbent. The other is on the ballot as Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr. with no party affiliation.
Each state, according to the U.S. Constitution, has authority over its own elections. Alaska law has no prohibition on candidates running as spoilers, and the Alaska Supreme Court ruled this summer that the Petersburg man has a right to be on the ballot.
Beyond the DOJ lawsuit, Alaska U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman said Friday the federal government is also investigating the possibility that a crime may have occurred.
“There is a surge in FBI resources, as well as resources in this office, to make sure that the election integrity remains in place,” he told reporters.
Heyman repeatedly referred to a New York Times report that seemed to substantiate what Sen. Sullivan and other Republicans had alleged for months: That Democratic operatives had an elaborate plan to recruit spoilers to the ballot, to help Peltola. The article said a fired Peltola campaign manager had text messages showing members of Peltola’s team were involved. The Times also quoted the campaign aide saying Peltola was aware of it, which Peltola denies.
While Heyman didn’t name any criminal statutes that might apply, a federal investigation into possible voter confusion appears to be underway in Southeast Alaska.
State Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, a Sitka independent, said she learned Friday that FBI agents paid a visit to at least two of her constituents, in Sitka and Petersburg, to see if they knew who they were donating to when they made campaign contributions to Dan J. Sullivan.
Himschoot called it “outrageous.”
“The people I serve are feeling harassed and invaded, and I guess I get a little spicy about it,” she said.
The challenger Sullivan has raised about $20,000 and is $30,000 in debt. Nearly all of his contributions over $200 came from people in Petersburg. Himschoot said she was among those who gave the Petersburg candidate a contribution.
“He is not supported by the Republicans. He is not supported by the Democrats,” she said. “He's just a retired teacher who ended up with a Supreme Court case, which comes with legal fees. So a lot of us donated.”
A poll released Friday shows Peltola with a two-percentage point lead over the senator. It shows the challenger Sullivan taking more than 4% of the vote.
