By Jan Wolfe and Mike Scarcella
Nov 1 (Reuters) – A federal judge on Sunday threw out a lawsuit by President Donald Trump’s administration seeking to block Alaska from certifying a loss by Republican Senator Dan Sullivan in Tuesday’s midterm elections if votes for a rival who shares his name could have changed the outcome.
The ruling by US District Judge Sharon Gleason in Anchorage was the latest blow to Trump’s efforts to assert a greater federal role in elections, which under the US Constitution are administered by the states.
Democratic former US Representative Mary Peltola is challenging Sullivan in the race, whose outcome could prove critical for determining whether Trump’s fellow Republicans can retain control of the Senate in the midterms. Democrats need a net gain of at least four seats in November’s midterm elections to gain control of the Senate.
Alaska’s ballot features the names of the incumbent senator, Daniel S. Sullivan, and Peltola, as well as a retired teacher whose name is Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., and another long-shot candidate.
Peltola has denied involvement in any effort to recruit Daniel J. Sullivan, who lives in a remote fishing village, to enter the race, saying at a rally that she is “not interested in tricking voters.” The retired teacher has denied in interviews with US news outlets that his aim is to cause confusion, but has said he would prefer Peltola winning over the incumbent senator.
In her decision, Gleason wrote that the administration’s proposal to segregate ballots would violate the right of voters in Alaska to a secret ballot, and dismissed the case on the basis that the federal government lacked the necessary legal standing to bring it.
“The United States provides no workable plan as to how it proposes to segregate ballots cast for Daniel J. Sullivan on Election Day and then conduct a court-ordered unspecified ‘investigation’ of those ballots in a manner that would preserve voter secrecy,” Gleason wrote, referring to the Trump administration’s lawsuit.
The Justice Department said in a court filing it intends to appeal the ruling. In a statement, it said the judge’s order dismissing the lawsuit was on procedural grounds. Alaskan voters deserve a fair election, not to be misled “in an attempt to rig outcomes,” the Justice Department said.
Alaska officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the ruling.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which intervened in the lawsuit in support of Alaska, said the judge rebuffed a Justice Department effort to “throw out Alaska’s election results before a single ballot was counted.”
“This administration keeps trying to tilt the midterms, and today (Sunday) it lost again,” the ACLU said.
ELECTION OVERSIGHT
The administration has taken an increasingly aggressive approach to election oversight, pressing states for voter-registration data and arguing that stricter measures are needed to ensure public confidence in the vote. Critics, including Democratic and some Republican election officials, view the moves as federal overreach.
The lawsuit filed by the Justice Department on October 22 challenged the candidacy of Daniel J. Sullivan. According to the lawsuit, he is running “with the intention of misleading supporters of Senator Sullivan into voting for him.” The administration said that certifying the election could violate the federal government’s duty to protect the integrity of elections.
The suit sought to temporarily bar Alaska election officials from certifying a Peltola victory in the event that assigning all of Daniel J. Sullivan’s votes to the incumbent would have changed the results. The lawsuit said that, in such a scenario, Gleason should investigate whether voters who selected Daniel J. Sullivan had instead intended to support the incumbent.
‘BALLOT STACKING’
The New York Times reported on October 28 that Peltola campaign staff members had worked with a Democratic operative from Ohio to find another Dan Sullivan to run to peel votes from the Republican senator. Reuters has not verified the report.
It is not clear what, if any, laws may have been broken. Both parties have engaged in “ballot stacking” by propping up lesser-known candidates to siphon votes from their opponents.
Trump, who has told reporters he ordered the Justice Department to file the lawsuit, has called for Peltola to be criminally prosecuted. The Justice Department has brought criminal charges against a number of Trump’s adversaries.
Peltola’s campaign had called the lawsuit meritless.
(Reporting by Jan Wolfe and Mike Scarcella; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Will Dunham)
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