Alaska Officials Move to Throw Out Trump Administration Lawsuit Over Senate Race Certification
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Alaska's state government has asked a federal judge to dismiss a Trump administration lawsuit seeking to block certification of the Senate race, saying the claims are baseless and threaten voters' rights.
Alaska's Republican-led government has urged a federal judge to permanently dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration that seeks to stop certification of the Senate race if incumbent GOP Senator Dan S. Sullivan loses. State officials say the case is meritless and an attempt to meddle with voters' rights to ballot secrecy.
In their filing, Alaska officials said the Trump administration's arguments give the court no valid reason to take up a lawsuit they describe as improper and impossible. The lawsuit claims Democratic candidate Mary Peltola's campaign was involved in confusing voters by recruiting a retired teacher with the same name as Sullivan, a claim Peltola has denied.
As Election Day approaches, Alaska officials criticized the legal foundation for the Trump administration's intervention, stressing that election certification is a state responsibility. They noted that the Alaska Supreme Court had approved the ballot design months earlier and that state officials had already taken steps to reduce voter confusion.
The filing also rejected the Justice Department's proposal to separate ballots that rank Sullivan, calling it nonsensical and impossible. The Alaska attorney general's office has asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice, so state officials can run the election without federal interference.
The Trump administration recently revised its complaint, citing a New York Times report alleging Peltola's involvement in recruiting a candidate with Sullivan's name. Peltola responded at a rally, saying she was offended by the accusations and insisting she does not want extra competition in the race. Sullivan, in a Fox News interview, accused Peltola of knowing about the alleged scheme, calling it deceptive and disrespectful to Alaskan voters.