An Obama-appointed federal judge just shut down the Justice Department’s attempt to protect Alaska’s Senate race from the state’s bizarre “Decoy Dan” ballot controversy.
But the Trump DOJ did not fold.
The department filed notice of appeal Sunday, keeping the fight alive less than 48 hours before Alaskans finish voting.
At the center of the mess are two candidates named Dan Sullivan.
Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan is fighting for reelection.
Retired teacher Daniel Sullivan is also on the ballot, listed with no party affiliation in Alaska’s ranked-choice contest.
The senator has accused people tied to Democrat Mary Peltola’s political operation of helping recruit the second Sullivan to confuse voters and peel votes away from the Republican incumbent.
Reaction landed immediately after DOJ filed its appeal, with election-watchers demanding that the disputed Alaska ballots be preserved:
The federal court’s 20-page order says the Justice Department lacked Article III standing because the relief it requested could not redress the alleged harm. Gleason dismissed the amended complaint and denied another attempt to rewrite it.
The government wanted Alaska to preserve and separate ballots ranking Daniel J. Sullivan so investigators could determine whether voter confusion affected the outcome if the incumbent narrowly lost.
Judge Sharon Gleason concluded that the proposed remedy was not workable. Ballots already cast had been mixed together, and any later investigation into individual voter intent would collide with the secrecy of the ballot.
Gleason, who was appointed by Barack Obama, also invoked the principle that federal courts should avoid changing election procedures on the eve of voting.
The order denied the government’s request to amend the case again, ending the district-court proceeding and forcing DOJ to seek relief from an appellate court.
That resolves the district-court round. It does not make the underlying “Decoy Dan” allegations disappear.
The ballot situation became even more surreal Friday night when X temporarily suspended the real senator’s campaign account after reportedly flagging it as inauthentic.
The Alaska Landmine documented the suspension notice before the campaign account was restored:
You could not invent a cleaner illustration of the confusion Republicans say the second candidacy was designed to create.
CBS News reports that DOJ amended its lawsuit after new reporting described efforts by people associated with Peltola’s campaign to find candidates who could draw votes from Sen. Sullivan.
The amended case argued that the second Sullivan’s presence threatened election integrity and asked the court to preserve a path for federal investigators to examine the ballots.
CBS also reports that no one in the race has been charged with a crime. A related federal criminal investigation and subpoenas are separate from the civil lawsuit Gleason dismissed.
The network says the amended complaint relied on the National Voter Registration Act and the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause. DOJ argued that federal intervention was necessary to preserve election integrity and allow investigators to examine an alleged conspiracy.
Gleason rejected that legal route without deciding whether the second Sullivan entered the race to confuse voters. That distinction is why the department says the dismissal was procedural and why its appeal is moving immediately.
The Associated Press reports that Daniel Sullivan took roughly 2.5 percent in the open primary — enough to finish in the top four and advance to Tuesday’s ranked-choice general election. He has done little visible campaigning and did not answer the outlet’s recent messages.
The two Sullivans appear differently on the ballot.
The sitting senator is identified as the Republican incumbent, while Daniel Sullivan appears with no party affiliation. Both candidates remain eligible to receive rankings under Alaska’s election system, where voters can rank multiple names instead of selecting only one.
Alaska officials say voter guides and ballot labels provide additional distinctions, but the incumbent argues those safeguards cannot erase the confusion created by nearly identical names.
The outlet also reports that state courts previously rejected a Republican-backed effort to remove the retired teacher from the ballot. Alaska’s governor has since ordered a separate investigation into the recruitment allegations.
Peltola’s campaign denies involvement with either Sullivan campaign. Sen. Sullivan says the operation went on too long and involved too many connected political operatives for that denial to be credible.
The Justice Department responded to Sunday’s ruling by making clear that the fight is not over:
The department’s notice of appeal means the legal battle can move to the Ninth Circuit, even as the clock races toward Election Day.
Whatever the appellate court does next, the political damage is already sitting on Alaska’s ballot.
There is one Republican incumbent, one Democrat and another candidate carrying nearly the same name as the Republican senator in a ranked-choice election that could help determine control of the United States Senate.
Alaska voters deserve clarity. They are getting chaos instead.
Continue reading...
[ H/T WLT Report ]
