Trump admin seeks to block Alaska Senate result if Dan Sullivan loses

The Trump administration is seeking to stop Alaska from certifying the result of the Senate race if Republican incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan loses to Democrat Mary Peltola and votes cast for another candidate named Dan Sullivan could have changed the outcome, according to legal documents filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday.

The DOJ’s complaint, filed against the state of Alaska, its director of the division of elections, its election boards and others, alleges that Republican candidate Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. entered the race intending to divert votes from the same-name incumbent by making voters mistake him for the sitting senator.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly made the same claim, accusing Democrats of planting Daniel J. Sullivan, a retired teacher, to confuse Alaska voters. In a social media post earlier this week, Trump—who has endorsed the incumbent—called his presence on the ballot a “scam” that could threaten Senator Dan Sullivan’s potential victory.

“Even 1, 2, or 3% could make the difference,” the president wrote. “Dan S. Sullivan is leading by a lot, but this is CHEATING in an Election, and the Judge that allowed this to happen should be ashamed of himself.”

Daniel J. Sullivan was a member of the Alaska Independence Party until it dissolved late last year, only registering as a Republican when he filed his candidacy in the Senate race earlier this year.

Alaska election officials initially agreed that the retired teacher’s filing was intended to confuse voters and sought to exclude him from the ballot. But an Alaska trial court ruled against that exclusion and the Alaska Supreme Court summarily affirmed that decision, putting Daniel J. Sullivan back on the ballot.

In its lawsuit, the DOJ is asking the court to block certification of a potentially affected election result if the Trump-endorsed candidate loses and the votes cast for the other Sullivan, the retired teacher, would have changed the winner under Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system if they were instead cast for the incumbent.

It would also require an investigation into whether Alaskans who cast their vote for Daniel J. Sullivan actually intended to vote for the incumbent, and it would allow further procedures to determine what the election result would have been without the alleged voter confusion.

Newsweek contacted Peltola’s and Sullivan’s campaigns for comment by email on Friday morning, outside of standard working hours.