The Justice Department sued Alaska on Thursday, asking a federal court to block certification of the state’s U.S. Senate race if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses.
The suit, filed in Anchorage, targets a second candidate on the Nov. 3 ballot: Daniel J. Sullivan. The department says his candidacy exists to confuse voters who meant to vote for the incumbent, and to tilt the race toward Democratic challenger Mary Peltola, a former U.S. representative.
Trump told reporters on Oct. 23 that he directed the department to file the lawsuit. “I’m the one that said do it,” he said.
Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters the department does not intend to improperly interfere with elections. Election law professor Derek Muller called the suit’s legal theory “strange and unusual” and said it was unclear how a court could intervene the way the department proposes.
The department’s claim rests on the National Voter Registration Act’s stated purpose of protecting the integrity of the electoral process. Alaska’s elections director found earlier this year that Daniel J. Sullivan filed “with a purpose to confuse or mislead” voters, but the state’s Supreme Court ruled he could stay on the ballot.
Dan S. Sullivan has held his seat since 2015. Democrats need to net four seats in November to win the Senate, according to CNN, and Alaska is one of several Republican-held states they hope to flip.
Source: Reuters
