Justice Department seeks conditional hold on Alaska Senate certification
publishers 42articles 47first reported 23 Oct, 15:15 UTCdeveloping since 23 Oct · 10 editions
The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit seeking to block certification of Alaska’s Senate election under narrow conditions if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses to Democratic challenger Mary Peltola.
The dispute centers on another candidate, retired educator Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., appearing on the ranked-choice ballot. The department argues that voters may confuse the two candidates and asks that certification be delayed if Sen. Sullivan loses but would have won had all votes for Daniel J. Sullivan been assigned to him and processed through the ranked-choice system.
Alaska’s ballot identifies the senator as “Dan S. Sullivan,” a “registered Republican” and the “incumbent.” Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. appears without a party affiliation. State election officials previously removed the latter candidate from the ballot, but a state court ordered him reinstated and the Alaska Supreme Court upheld that ruling. Daniel J. Sullivan has denied running to confuse voters, while Democrats say they have no connection to his candidacy.
President Donald Trump said he directed the department to pursue the case. Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the lawsuit Sunday, saying it was intended to preserve a process for addressing potential voter confusion rather than to take control of Alaska’s election.
Peltola called the action “flagrant corruption,” and Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski also criticized it. Democratic groups, voting-rights advocates and Peltola’s campaign are seeking to join the case in opposition to the requested certification block.
HOW THIS STORY WAS MADE
Written from 8 articles, 5 with the publisher's own text; 8 independent newsrooms once syndicated copies count as one; this version written 54 h after the record first saw the story; the editor kept it as written.
- Publishers
- 42
- Source articles
- 47
- Given to the writer
- 8, 5 with the article's own text
- Independent newsrooms
- 8
- This version written
- 54 h after the record first saw the story
- Second model (editor)
- kept as written
- Publication gate
- passed
- Human review
- none
WHAT THE EDITOR DID
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