Alaska Challenges Trump Lawsuit Over Senate Election Ballots

Alaska's Republican-led government is challenging the Trump administration's attempt to prevent certification of a potentially decisive US Senate election, arguing that federal intervention is legally unjustified and that separating ballots cast for two candidates with similar names is impossible without compromising voter privacy. The dispute involves Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola, whose campaign denies allegations that it helped recruit another candidate with the same surname and a similar first name.

The legal confrontation comes as federal investigators examine the recruitment of retired teacher Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., while separate political spending investigations raise additional questions about efforts to influence Alaska's Senate contest and another pivotal race in Ohio.

According to a Saturday filing by Alaska's attorney general's office, the state wants US District Court Judge Sharon L. Gleason to dismiss the Justice Department's lawsuit permanently. The department is seeking to prevent certification of a possible Peltola victory until authorities determine whether voters were confused by the competing candidates.

The Justice Department also requested that ballots containing votes for Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. be preserved and separated for examination. Alaska officials said identifying those ballots would be impossible without violating the confidentiality of individual voters.

The state emphasized that election officials distinguished the candidates through their ballot descriptions. The incumbent appears as a Republican senator, while the retired teacher is identified as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.

Alaska's legal filing described the federal government's latest request as:

"both disturbing and impossible."

The state's attorneys also challenged the administration's broader legal argument, which relies on language in federal voter registration legislation from the 1990s concerning election integrity.

"There is no reason for this Court to entertain this meritless lawsuit any longer," Alaska officials wrote.

They also argued that the federal court should not intervene in the state's election administration.

"State officials carefully designed the ballot to minimize voter confusion. The Court should immediately dismiss this lawsuit with prejudice and allow state officials to conduct the general election — including ballot counting and certification — free from unwarranted federal interference," the state filing stated.

Alaska's attorneys maintained that allegations about possible Democratic campaign involvement do not change the second candidate's legal eligibility. The Alaska Supreme Court had ruled during the summer that Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. met the requirements to remain on the ballot.

"Not every wrong can be righted in federal court," the state government wrote.

Republican Governor Mike Dunleavy previously announced a state investigation after The New York Times published allegations involving Peltola's former campaign manager, communications, and contributions from a political group supporting the Democrat to an out-of-state consultant who recruited the second Sullivan.

Peltola has rejected any involvement in recruiting the candidate. Speaking at a Friday rally, she strongly criticized the accusations.

"So deeply offended by these accusations about having any involvement with anyone else's candidacy," Peltola told supporters.

She also questioned why her campaign would encourage additional competition in the election.

"I want fewer candidates in the primary. I'm not out soliciting more competition," she said.

Peltola added that she did not need assistance in defeating the Republican incumbent.

"Not need any help," she said.

The allegations have also prompted FBI agents to contact donors who contributed to Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. in remote Alaska communities and Massachusetts. Some donors said they understood exactly which candidate they were supporting.

Charles Flint, who contributed $500 during the summer, described his motivation for supporting the retired teacher.

"Throwing his hat in the ring," Flint said.

He rejected suggestions that the campaign had misled him.

"I don't feel like I've been misled at all," Flint said.

He also said the candidates were distinguishable and explained that he intended to rank Peltola first, followed by Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.

"I don't think there's any confusion," he said.

Another donor, Pat Campbell, similarly denied being deceived about the identity of the candidate receiving the contribution.

"No, we had not been defrauded. We knew to whom we had contributed," Campbell said.

Senator Dan S. Sullivan accused Peltola of having knowledge of the alleged recruitment effort during an interview with Fox News.

"There's no way Peltola doesn't know about" the alleged scheme, Sullivan said.

He characterized the alleged effort as an attempt to undermine Alaska voters.

"It's deception. But at its worst, it's disdain for us Alaskans. Think about what they did. They're trying to make sure that Alaskans throw away their vote," Sullivan said.

President Donald Trump has also accused Democrats of manipulating the election and demanded that Peltola face prosecution. He described the allegations as:

"Voter fraud at the highest level," Trump said.

Trump also suggested that Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. had disappeared because he was aware of wrongdoing.

"Nobody can find him now, so he knows he's guilty," Trump said.

The American Civil Liberties Union separately urged Judge Gleason to reject the federal lawsuit, warning that allowing the executive branch to intervene could undermine state control over elections.

"Imagine if the federal executive could pluck a few words like 'election integrity' from some statutory preamble and, on that basis alone, bend the machinery of state elections to his will, preemptively blocking certification of a U.S. Senate election to protect his preferred candidate from defeat and then subjecting voters to a law-enforcement-led inquest about who they 'really' supported. Imagine that world and ask whether it is what the Framers wanted or precisely what they most feared," the ACLU wrote.

Meanwhile, a separate CNN investigation identified another network of political action committees supporting lesser-known conservative candidates in Alaska and Ohio. The organizations have spent millions of dollars attacking Republican incumbents while promoting challengers.

Two committees listing Wisconsin political consultant Thomas Datwyler as treasurer spent more than $3.75 million from mid-October attacking Sullivan and supporting Gerald Jerry Heikes, a drywall contractor running as a conservative challenger.

Heikes told The New York Times that a man had encouraged him to enter the race.

"Make things happen for you," Heikes recalled the unidentified recruiter promising.

Heikes said he could not remember the recruiter's name and did not respond to CNN's requests for comment.

The committees followed a strategy previously used during Alaska's August Senate primary. A Datwyler-linked organization spent more than $2.3 million attacking Sullivan and supporting Heikes and Earl Southworth, another lesser-known candidate running with the Alaskan Party.

Federal Election Commission filings later showed that almost all the organization's funding came from the Sixteen Thirty Fund and Liberty Force Action Fund.

In Ohio, another Datwyler-linked committee spent more than $3.8 million attacking Republican Senator Jon Husted and supporting libertarian candidate William Redpath. Redpath told CNN he had never met Datwyler, did not know who financed the advertisements, and had not seen the promotional material before the news organization contacted him.

The investigation also highlighted a campaign finance disclosure loophole. Political committees that begin spending during the final two weeks of an election campaign can postpone identifying their donors until after Election Day.

Election reform advocate Michael Beckel, director of money-in-politics reform at Issue One, warned that undisclosed political financing could damage public confidence in elections.

"This type of gamesmanship can erode public confidence in the electoral process. When voters discover after an election that an organization from the opposing political camp secretly financed advertising supporting a candidate, they may reasonably question what else they don't know," Beckel said.

However, David Keating, president of the Institute for Free Speech, defended political action committees' ability to support candidates regardless of their motivations.

"I don't really see a solution. It's part of democracy. It's a messy process. Free speech is messy, but it's better than the alternatives," Keating said.

Datwyler declined to respond to requests for comment. A woman answering the door at his Wisconsin residence told CNN he:

"Wouldn't want to talk" about his political activities, she said.

In a video published on his company's Instagram account the previous year, Datwyler defended his political consulting work against criticism.

"The work is so much more important than the noise and the press that attack me with meaningless, meritless articles. It motivates me more because I know that they wouldn't be attacking me or my clients if we weren't an actual threat to them and their power," Datwyler said.

One of the committees subsequently submitted updated registration documents to the Federal Election Commission on Friday, naming a new treasurer. The Alaska Senate dispute remains before Judge Gleason, who set Saturday as the deadline for arguments concerning dismissal of the federal lawsuit.