ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Diya TV) — The Justice Department sued Alaska election officials Thursday, asking a federal judge to block certification of the U.S. Senate race if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses and a hypothetical review suggests that votes for a second candidate named Sullivan changed the outcome.
The lawsuit does not establish that voters have confused the candidates. It asks the court to prevent Alaska from certifying a result the department considers potentially affected by confusion, while officials investigate whether voters who selected Daniel J. Sullivan meant to vote for the incumbent, Dan S. Sullivan. The department filed the case in federal court in Anchorage.
The Justice Department’s proposed test would count the election under Alaska’s ranked-choice system, then compare the result with a hypothetical count in which every vote for Daniel J. Sullivan went to the senator. The department asks the court to block certification if the senator would have won under that scenario, pending an investigation into voter intent. The complaint does not explain how officials could distinguish mistaken votes from votes cast deliberately for the challenger.
The lawsuit accuses Daniel J. Sullivan of entering the race to mislead the incumbent’s supporters and benefit Democrat Mary Peltola. Those are the department’s allegations. Daniel J. Sullivan has denied trying to confuse voters or divert votes from the senator.
Alaska election director Carol Beecher initially ruled that the challenger’s candidacy was not filed in good faith. An Alaska Superior Court reversed that decision, and the state Supreme Court affirmed, allowing him onto the November ballot. The ballot lists the candidates as “Dan S. Sullivan” and “Daniel J. Sullivan”; the challenger has no party designation beside his name, while the senator appears as a Republican.
The complaint points to the challenger’s request to use “Dan Sullivan” on the ballot, his Republican registration shortly before filing, and similarities between the candidates’ campaign websites. The court record also shows that the state’s initial ruling relied on those concerns; the courts later allowed him to run.
Alaska’s system advances the top four finishers in the primary to the general election. Voters rank candidates, and officials transfer ballots to the next-ranked continuing candidate when they eliminate the lowest finisher. That process matters because the Justice Department’s hypothetical depends on how the full ranked-choice count would play out—not just on the first-choice totals.
The department bases its case on the National Voter Registration Act’s language about protecting election integrity. Election-law experts have questioned whether that law authorizes the court order the department seeks.
The race pits the incumbent against Peltola, a former Democratic U.S. representative, and comes as control of the Senate is at stake. The court must now decide whether to intervene before voters cast their ballots on Nov. 3.
