Federal Judge Dismisses DOJ Suit Over Alaska Ballot Name Confusion

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice on Sunday, clearing the way for Alaska to certify its election results without delay.

Judge Sharon Gleason ruled against the Justice Department's request to separate ballots in the Senate race if incumbent Dan S. Sullivan loses. The suit targeted the presence of Dan J. Sullivan, a candidate from Petersburg, on the same ballot. The Department of Justice argued that the identical names would confuse voters. Gleason countered that court intervention would create greater confusion and might discourage people from voting.

The order stated that the Justice Department failed to prove how the state could fix the issue while keeping the secret ballot. Gleason wrote that the lack of explanation showed the United States did not meet the legal requirements for standing in the case.

The legal action followed a report in The New York Times alleging that staff for the campaign of Mary Peltola placed Dan J. Sullivan on the ballot to mislead voters. The Peltola campaign denied the claims. A spokesperson for the campaign said that a baseless lawsuit would not stop Alaskans from electing Mary.

Peltola said she did not know if members of her team were behind the reported actions. She described the situation as offensive, noting that Alaska is not known for tricking one another. She also said she believed she could win the race. When asked about former campaign manager Elisa Rios, Peltola said people had left for a good reason and that she would be happy to fire them again.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy ordered a state investigation on Wednesday to determine if laws were broken. He said the evidence would decide the next steps and that anyone found to have broken the law must be held accountable. U.S. District Attorney Michael Heyman confirmed an investigation is underway but declined to specify which crimes are being considered. Heyman said the team is looking at several theories and is not making assumptions about whether a crime occurred.

Election attorneys noted that the facts in the report do not clearly show illegal behavior under Alaska law. Scott Kendall, an elections attorney, said he did not see a law being broken based on the reported texts and emails. Don Palmer of The Heritage Foundation agreed the actions were unsavory but did not spell out illegal action in the report itself.