DOJ sues to block Alaska Senate race certification if Sullivan loses

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 23 Oct, 16:58 · Archive

The US Department of Justice has sued to prevent Alaska from certifying the Senate election result if incumbent Republican senator Dan Sullivan loses.

The US Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit seeking to block Alaska from certifying its Senate election result if incumbent Republican senator Dan Sullivan loses to Democratic challenger Mary Peltola. The suit alleges that candidate Daniel J. Sullivan, also a Republican, is deliberately running with the same name and party affiliation to confuse voters and divert support from the incumbent senator.

Daniel J. Sullivan received 2.5 per cent of the vote in Alaska's open primary on 28 August, enough to secure one of four spots on the general election ballot. In that primary, Peltola received 49.5 per cent, senator Sullivan received 41.1 per cent, and a third Republican candidate, Gerald Heikes, received 1.1 per cent. Alaska's Elections Director Carol Beecher found that Daniel J. Sullivan's candidacy is 'for the purpose of confusing or misleading voters and compromising the fairness of the ballot'.

Alaska's Senate election will be decided by ranked-choice voting, where voters rank candidates in order of preference. The DOJ argues that voter confusion arising from the duplicate name threatens the integrity of the election. The lawsuit requests that certification be blocked if senator Sullivan loses but would have won had votes for Daniel J. Sullivan been counted for him, pending an investigation into voter intent. Although Alaska state courts permitted Daniel J. Sullivan to remain on the ballot, the federal lawsuit argues that certifying a result impacted by this confusion would violate the National Voter Registration Act.

How it is being reported

• DOJ sues to block Alaska Senate certification if Sullivan losesThe Justice Department is asking the federal court to block certification if Sen. Sullivan loses, but would have won had the other Sullivan's votes been counted for him.CBS News · 23 Oct, 16:44
• DOJ sues to block Alaska from certifying Senate race winner if Republican narrowly losesThe Alaska race is one of several contests around the United States that could determine whether Republicans retain their slim majority in the SenateCNBC · 23 Oct, 16:23

In this story: Dan Sullivan · Mary Peltola · Daniel J. Sullivan · Department of Justice · Alaska

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem