Voting Groups Want to Throw Out DOJ’s Appeal in Alaska Senate Race

Voting rights groups are asking an appeals court to dismiss the Justice Department’s “frivolous appeal” in the legal clash over Alaska’s ballots in the Senate race.

It’s unlikely the race will be called soon between Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola and incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. The DOJ sued the state of Alaska 10 days before the midterm elections over the inclusion of candidate Daniel J. Sullivan, who has no party affiliation, and then filed an appeal when a judge dismissed the lawsuit.

The Trump administration hadn’t sought quick action on that appeal but now the voting groups have.

In a motion asking the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm the dismissal of the lawsuit, the groups say that it is impossible to enforce the DOJ’s request to pause certification of election results if the incumbent Sullivan loses. Voters can not be interrogated about why they voted for a certain candidate, the filing says.

“The relief sought — indefinitely blocking the certification of an ongoing U.S. Senate election and running an inquisition into individual voters’ true intentions — was and remains completely illegal,” voting groups’ filing says. “It would disenfranchise voters. It would violate the right to a secret ballot. It would deter people from exercising their franchise for fear of government interrogation.”

Groups also say that voter confusion over which Sullivan to vote for does not warrant the DOJ’s request to halt certification, and the government has not made clear how they would investigate which Sullivan Alaskans intended to vote for.

Voting rights groups want the appeals court to dismiss the DOJ’s request “and then order the United States to explain why it should not be sanctioned for filing a frivolous appeal,” the filing says.

Alaska is one of two Senate races that remain uncalled as Democrats could capture a larger margin in the chamber. With such a tight race at play, the Peltola campaign sued the state’s election division for copies of any rejected absentee ballots.

A New York Times investigation found that the Peltola campaign recruited the other Sullivan — which is not illegal — though the campaign stated several times that it had nothing to do with the candidate.