A federal judge on Sunday dismissed the Justice Department’s lawsuit seeking to delay certification of Alaska’s Senate election, keeping the race on track just two days before the midterm elections. The ruling blocks a last-minute attempt to slow the election results while the state prepares to count and certify a contest that could help decide control of the Senate.
The fight centered on Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan and challenger Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., two candidates whose similar names drew the government’s attention. In asking the court to pause certification, the Justice Department said it wanted time to investigate whether voter confusion may have affected the outcome, but U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason said the government had not shown how it could probe voter intent without violating ballot secrecy. She also said the relief requested would intrude on Alaska’s responsibility to run its elections.
The timing made the case unusually urgent. Alaska uses ranked-choice voting, a system that can eliminate the last-place candidate if no one wins a majority in the first count and then shift voters’ next choices into the tally. That structure is at the center of the state’s election results process, and it is part of why the dispute landed in court before Tuesday’s election. A separate question still hangs over the aftermath: if Mary Peltola wins, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has suggested he may not certify that result.
The government’s theory depends on confusion, but the court drew a hard line around proof. Gleason said the Justice Department had not shown a lawful way to find out how individual voters intended to vote while still protecting the secrecy of their ballots. That leaves the underlying claim unresolved even as the certification clock keeps moving, and it explains why the case mattered well beyond one Senate race.
The Justice Department said it would appeal, and the case now heads to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Sullivan said Sunday he would accept the results of Tuesday’s election, a statement that sharpens the contrast between a campaign ready to move forward and a legal fight still trying to stretch the calendar. For now, Alaska’s count remains on schedule, and the next decision will come from the appeals court rather than another delay in Anchorage.
