The DOJ Alaska lawsuit is over, at least for now. On Sunday, U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason dismissed the Trump administration’s bid to block certification of Alaska’s U.S. Senate race if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses, the Alaska Beacon reports. The Justice Department appealed within hours.
Election Day is Tuesday. So here is our take: the judge got this one right. The fake Dan Sullivan problem is real, but a last-minute federal suit was never the fix.
Key Takeaways
- Judge Sharon Gleason dismissed the DOJ suit on Sunday, Nov. 1, in a 20-page order.
- She found the government lacked standing because it offered no workable plan that would protect ballot secrecy.
- DOJ filed a notice of appeal to the 9th Circuit the same day.
- Sen. Dan Sullivan said he would accept the election results, win or lose, NPR reports.
- Federal and state criminal investigations continue, and no one in the race has been charged.
- Separate lawsuits say some rural voting sites failed to open on schedule.
Why the Judge Dismissed the DOJ Alaska Lawsuit
First, the background. The suit targeted Daniel J. Sullivan, a retired teacher from Petersburg who shares a name with the senator. President Trump said he ordered the case. DOJ wanted the state to set aside every ballot cast for the other Sullivan so investigators could look for voter confusion.
However, the judge said that plan could not work. “The absence of any explanation from the United States as to how its requested relief could redress its alleged injury while simultaneously maintaining the secrecy of the ballot is telling,” Gleason wrote, NPR reports.
She went further. Separating those ballots so law enforcement could investigate the voters behind them “clearly (violates) Alaskans’ right to a secret ballot,” she wrote. She also denied DOJ a chance to amend, because the election is only two days away.
Notably, DOJ did not back down. A spokesperson said the court ruled “on procedural grounds” and argued voters were being misled, CBS News reports. Still, the Beacon notes that an appeal could become moot if Sullivan wins or Peltola wins by more than the other Sullivan’s vote total.
Sullivan Is Taking the Right Posture
Sen. Sullivan is not pretending the ballot is fine. On CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, he said, “I’m sure I’m going to lose a lot of votes to that trickery.” He also accused Mary Peltola of not being honest about what her aides knew. Peltola denies any involvement.
Even so, Sullivan said he would accept the results, win or lose. That is exactly what a conservative should say. We expect the other side to accept losses. Therefore, we hold ourselves to the same standard.
In fact, this is the line we have drawn all along. When DOJ first sued, we said Washington isn’t the fix for Alaska’s fake Dan Sullivan problem. Later, when the ballot fight reached court, we said make DOJ prove its case while protecting the secret ballot. In the end, the DOJ Alaska lawsuit never showed how to do both.
The Real Fix Is in Juneau, Not Washington
To be clear, the alleged scheme deserves answers. A New York Times report said Democratic operatives sought spoiler candidates, though the Beacon has not verified it. Both federal and state criminal probes are open, as we covered in our look at the Peltola campaign subpoenas. That is the proper channel. If someone broke the law, charge them and prove it.
Meanwhile, the bigger fix belongs to Alaska, not to another DOJ Alaska lawsuit. State lawmakers can write clearer ballot rules for candidates who share a name. In addition, voters can scrap the ranked-choice system that turned a name game into a strategy. A state that wrote the rules can rewrite them.
Elections work best when states run them, and that cuts both ways. Two lawsuits say at least 18 rural absentee voting sites were not operating in the first week of early voting, the Anchorage Daily News reports. One plaintiff is a political nonprofit that funds a pro-Peltola PAC. Even so, every eligible Alaskan deserves a working polling place. The elections director said 12 of the 18 sites confirmed they were open.
A state judge will hear the first suit Monday morning. That, too, is the system working through state courts and state law.
The Bottom Line
Over 86,700 Alaskans had already voted early, NPR reports. Their ballots should be counted under the law, kept secret and certified on time. Investigate fraud through prosecutors and evidence. Fix the ballot through the Legislature. That is how conservatives protect election integrity without handing Washington the keys.
What do you think? Was the judge right to toss the DOJ Alaska lawsuit? Tell us in the comments.
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