Judge dismisses DOJ lawsuit over Sullivan names

A federal judge on Sunday dismissed the Department of Justice‘s extraordinary lawsuit seeking to delay certification of the Alaska Senate election if incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan loses because of possible voter confusion from another candidate with his name on the ballot.

The ruling came two days before Election Day, and two days after the U.S. Attorney for Alaska said there were ongoing criminal and civil investigations into the non-incumbent Dan J. Sullivan’s decision to run for the Senate.

The campaign of Democratic nominee Mary Peltola, state election officials and outside advocacy groups had asked Judge Sharon Gleason to dismiss the DOJ’s lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Anchorage.

The Department of Justice quickly filed a notice of its intention to appeal the decision to the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

Peltola is locked in a tight contest with Sen. Dan Sullivan in the election, whose winner will be determined by a ranked-choice system.

The outcome of the race is one of several contests that determine which party has a majority of the Senate, where Republicans currently hold a narrow majority.

Neither the other Sullivan nor the fourth candidate on the ballot, Gerald Heikes, is considered to have a chance of winning.

But voters who rank them as a first choice could swing the outcome by ranking Peltola or Sen. Sullivan second.

Peltola’s campaign has been accused of soliciting the retired school teacher Dan Sullivan to run for the Senate against the incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan and Peltola.

Her campaign has denied those claims.

“No sham investigation or baseless lawsuit from a weaponized Department of Justice is going to stop Alaskans from electing Mary on November 3rd so she can lower costs for Alaska’s working families,” Peltola’s campaign said in a statement after Sunday’s ruling.

“Alaskans will choose their next U.S. Senator – not Dan Sullivan or his DC allies,” the campaign said.

Gleason, in her 20-page decision, did not resolve the question of whether another Sullivan had been recruited to confuse voters.

Instead, she said the federal government had failed to establish that it had legal standing to file a civil complaint to postpone certification of the election if Sen. Sullivan lost.

The DOJ, in that event, had wanted an investigation to be conducted into voter intent and possible confusion from having two Dan Sullivans on the ballot.

“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 said in her ruling.

She noted that early voting in the state was already underway, and that ballots already cast have been commingled in a way that would prevent officials from linking individual…