Follow-up: Federal Judge Throws Out DOJ Lawsuit Over Alaska Senate Race, Rejecting Ballot Segregation and Delayed Certification
A federal judge on Sunday threw out the U.S. Justice Department's lawsuit seeking to segregate ballots and delay certification of Alaska's Senate race. U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason said the federal government does not have standing to force Alaska to segregate ballots, that such a move would violate voters' right to cast a secret ballot, and that it is in any event too late for courts to force such a major change on the eve of an election.
The Justice Department had argued that the presence of a second candidate with the same name as Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan — Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. — warranted a court-ordered investigation if Sullivan loses and the namesake votes could change the outcome.
Gleason wrote that the United States "provides no workable plan" for segregating the namesake ballots and then conducting an unspecified investigation "in a manner that would preserve voter secrecy," and that ordering segregation would likely cause voter "confusion and consequent incentive to remain away from the polls," adding that such late-breaking changes to election rules are strongly disfavored.
Democrat Mary Peltola is challenging Sullivan in a race that could help decide control of the Senate. Alaska officials, Democratic groups and nonpartisan voter advocacy organizations opposed the suit, arguing the candidacy dispute had been settled in state court months ago and that election administrators placed several identifiers on the ballot to distinguish the two candidates.
According to CNN, the Justice Department may still appeal both the Alaska ruling and a California ruling, after a federal appeals court on Friday rejected its demand that California set aside ballots from about 20,000 people it claims could be noncitizens. CNN has reached out to the Justice Department for comment. Alaska votes on November 3.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于 Anchorage 的阿拉斯加州法院 Boney Courthouse 大楼（资料图）。照片：James Brooks，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The Boney Courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska (file photo). Photo by James Brooks, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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- 2026-11-01Follow-up: Federal Judge Throws Out DOJ Lawsuit Over Alaska Senate Race, Rejecting Ballot Segregation and Delayed CertificationThis story
