The Alaska Attorney General’s Office filed a motion Saturday to dismiss the Justice Department’s lawsuit that seeks to stop certification of a possible Democratic Senate win in Alaska over the Senate candidacy of Daniel J. Sullivan — an independent with the same first and last name as incumbent GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan.
The DOJ’s lawsuit is predicated on allegations that the second Sullivan’s candidacy violates the National Voter Registration Act.
In its filing, however, the state argued that the DOJ’s argument has “no legal basis,” and saying there is “no reason for this Court to entertain this meritless lawsuit any longer.”
“What’s more, the relief demanded is inappropriate and not even possible given Alaskan voters’ vital right to ballot secrecy,” the state wrote.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason has set a deadline of Saturday for arguments over whether she should dismiss the case.
The DOJ filed a civil lawsuit this week seeking to block certification of the results if Sen. Sullivan loses due to what it claimed was “voter confusion.”
Alaskan officials countered in Saturday’s motion that “state officials carefully designed the ballot to minimize voter confusion.”
All this follows a New York Times report that found that people associated with the campaign of Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola had helped recruit the second Sullivan, a retired teacher, to run. Peltola has denied that she knew anything about the alleged scheme.
In June, state election officials found that Daniel J. Sullivan was ineligible to appear on the ballot, calling his candidacy a “determined effort and a deliberate attempt” to confuse voters and was not “in good faith.”
However, later that same month, the Alaska Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that overturned that decision, ruling that the “good faith” argument did not apply because it was not based on the Constitution, Alaska law or the election division’s own regulations.
The DOJ has also launched a separate criminal investigation into the Alaska Senate race, for which it has issued multiple subpoenas of Democratic officials.
