A federal judge on Sunday blocked the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Alaska over a ballot-confusion scheme involving two Senate candidates who share almost the same name, handing the DOJ an embarrassing loss just days before voters head to the polls.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason, an Obama nominee, dismissed the federal government’s case in a 20-page ruling. The DOJ had argued that a lesser-known Daniel J. Sullivan deliberately filed for Senate to confuse voters into splitting votes away from Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan. Judge Gleason wasn’t buying it, at least not on procedural grounds, writing that the federal government never explained what legal authority it was acting under or how it could fix the alleged fraud without compromising ballot secrecy.
“Simply, the Court cannot grant the United States the relief it seeks,” Gleason wrote. She added that ordering ballots to be segregated for a future investigation “would likely result in voter confusion and consequent incentive to remain away from the polls.” So the cure, apparently, would be worse than the disease. You can’t make this stuff up. You can read more about the Decoy Dan Alaska Senate case as it continues to unfold.
The DOJ didn’t take the loss quietly. A department spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the court tossed the case on procedural grounds but “did not dispute the argument of the United States that Daniel J. Sullivan (a/k/a Decoy Dan) entered the race as a frivolous candidate to confuse voters.” The department plans to file a notice of appeal. U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman also weighed in, telling Alaskan voters to “cast your ballot for the individual who you intend to support” while promising federal and state law enforcement are working to protect their votes.
The whole mess connects back to Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, who is trying to hold onto her Senate seat against Dan Sullivan. Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy ordered the state’s Department of Public Safety to open an official investigation Thursday into allegations that the ballot scheme was tied to Peltola’s campaign. A fired Peltola campaign aide reportedly told The New York Times that Peltola had knowledge of an effort to stack the ballot in her favor. Peltola’s campaign told the DCNF it had no involvement with Sullivan’s campaign.
The story has attracted national attention fast. Republican Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy posted on X that “this was a fraud perpetrated against the people of Alaska” and said Peltola should not be seated if she wins under fraudulent conditions. Even Bernie Sanders, Independent senator from Vermont, called the Democrats’ move “dumb” during a Sunday appearance on “Face The Nation,” though he argued it wasn’t illegal and compared it to Republicans reportedly backing socialist candidates in Ohio to split the left-wing vote. When Bernie Sanders is calling your election strategy dumb, maybe it’s time to rethink the playbook.
The DOJ appeal is in motion, the state investigation is open, and Alaskans are headed to the polls with all of this hanging in the air. Democrats spent so much energy engineering the ballot and still managed to get caught, lectured by a socialist, and thrown out of court all in the same weekend.
