Alaska Asks Judge to Dismiss DOJ Senate Ballot Suit With Prejudice, Calls Ballot-Segregation Request 'Impossible'

Since the Justice Department sued on Oct. 22 to block certification of Alaska's Senate race if Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan loses, the state has now put its full answer on the record. In a filing Saturday, Oct. 31, Alaska's attorney general's office urged U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason to throw the case out with prejudice.

"The United States' opposition provides no reason for this Court to entertain this meritless lawsuit any longer," the filing said. Gleason had set Saturday as the deadline for arguments on whether she should dismiss the case without even holding a hearing. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.

The new ballot demand

On Friday, the Justice Department added a request: that the court separate every ballot showing a vote for the second candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan, until it can be determined whether voters were fooled into wasting votes on a spoiler.

Alaska called that idea "both disturbing and impossible." The state said it cannot be done without violating voters' right to ballot secrecy.

"No matter how the ballots are physically stored, it will be easy to tell which ballots rank Daniel J.," the filing said. "If the United States means something different — as it seems to — its ballot segregation proposal is both disturbing and impossible." The state also called the proposal an "unexplained idea" that "makes no sense."

What the state says about the ballot

Alaska's lawyers argue the federal government has no standing to step into a state election, and that certification belongs to the states. They also point out that the Alaska Supreme Court approved the second Sullivan's name on the ballot months ago.

The state says election officials "carefully designed the ballot to minimize voter confusion." The senator is labeled as the Republican incumbent. The other candidate appears as Daniel J. Sullivan, a retired schoolteacher from Petersburg.

In its earlier motion to dismiss, the state wrote that "the United States lacks authority to intervene in state elections at all, much less in support of a favored candidate." It also cited the principle that lower federal courts should not alter a state's election rules on the eve of an election, and said there is a "lack of evidence of any problems."

The federal case

The Justice Department's position rests on a preamble to the 1990s federal voter registration law, which it says gives Washington responsibility for the "integrity" of federal elections. The department says it is trying to combat fraud, not tilt the outcome.

Attorney General Todd Blanche has put it this way: "if it's clear that there was confusion, and that confusion led to an unjust, improper result that is not the will of the Alaskan voters, we want to make sure that the Alaskan system and the Alaskan state courts and the Alaskan electoral process can understand that in a way that lets them do the right thing."

The department has also issued subpoenas and announced a criminal investigation. No charges have been announced.

The political fight

The suit alleges that the campaign of Democrat Mary Peltola helped recruit the second Sullivan. Peltola denies involvement. The New York Times reported this week that interviews with her former campaign manager, texts and contributions from a political group backing her appear to show campaign involvement in recruiting him. That reporting is the basis for the claim.

Sullivan went on Fox News Saturday night and called it "the ultimate in D.C. corruption." He pointed to the Times-reported texts and accused Peltola's top aides of knowing about the effort while she publicly denied it. Asked whether he was calling Peltola a liar, he said: "I think that's an absolute lie to the Alaskan people." He also accused Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of trying to win a Senate majority through Alaska.

President Trump, speaking to reporters at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday night, called it a "total Democrat con job" and "voter fraud at the highest level." He said the other Sullivan "left the world, and nobody can find him now. So he knows he's guilty." He also accused Schumer and Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias of involvement.

Daniel J. Sullivan has not responded to an inquiry about the suit and has not commented publicly, according to the Epoch Times. None of the sources provide evidence tying Schumer or Elias to the recruitment.

Trump has also demanded that Peltola be prosecuted. No investigation naming her has been announced.

What happens next

Gleason is expected to rule soon on whether to dismiss the case or let it proceed. A dismissal with prejudice would end the federal effort before ballots are counted. A ruling to keep it alive would leave Alaska's certification process under a federal cloud while the state, which is run by Republicans, fights the Republican administration in court.

The ballot-segregation request is the part Gleason will have to confront most directly. Alaska says it cannot be carried out without exposing how individual voters cast ballots. The Justice Department has not publicly said how it would do it.