Alaska Officials Urge Court To Toss Trump Administration's Vote-Counting Lawsuit

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

Officials in Alaska urged a federal court to throw out a legal complaint lodged by the Trump administration that pre-challenges the results of an election for a U.S. Senate seat representing the state.

The lawsuit, which says that voter confusion over two candidates having similar names could lead to illegitimate results, should be swiftly dismissed, Alaska Assistant Attorneys General Margaret Paton Walsh and Laura Fox said in the motion filed on Monday.

"The United States lacks authority to intervene in state elections at all, much less in support of a favored candidate," they wrote.

They said the court should follow the "well-established principle" that "lower federal courts should not 'alter the election rules' of a state 'on the eve of an election.'"

Department of Justice lawyers said in the Oct. 22 lawsuit that Daniel J. Sullivan, an independent retired teacher, is only running to confuse voters and mislead supporters of Sen. Daniel S. Sullivan (R-Alaska) into voting for him, making it easier for Democrat Mary Peltola to win.

They said that state officials would be violating federal law that says states must "protect the integrity of the electoral process" if Alaska certifies the results of the race, due to the inclusion of Daniel J. Sullivan on the ballot, and asked the court to commit to barring certification if the incumbent loses and if the incumbent would have won if votes that went to Daniel J. Sullivan were added to the senator's total.

Attorney General Todd Blanche said that "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."

Daniel J. Sullivan has not returned an inquiry and has not commented on the suit.

Peltola's campaign filed a motion to intervene in the case and later filed a proposed motion to dismiss the case, saying the Trump administration's claim in the case "is lawless and utterly unsupported by precedent or statute." The campaign and the League of Women's Voters, which is also seeking to intervene, also asked the judge overseeing the case to expedite consideration of their motions.

The judge on Monday said she would quickly consider the filings. The judge noted that the legal action was brought "after Alaskans had already begun casting their ballots for the November 2026 election - and nearly four months after the Alaska Supreme Court directed the Division of Elections to include Daniel J. Sullivan on the ballot for the upcoming United States Senate election."

That was followed by state election officials, through state lawyers, lodging their motion to dismiss.

Alaska officials said that it is an unusual situation since two candidates share a first and last name. However, the Division of Elections has "taken significant steps to distinguish them on the ballot so that voters can easily determine which candidate is which," and there is a "lack of evidence of any problems," the filing said.

The officials added later, "The Court should promptly dismiss the complaint with prejudice so that Alaska can proceed to administer its elections consistent with state and federal law and without unwarranted interference by the United States."