Two Dan Sullivans: Justice Department sues Alaska ahead of Senate vote
Washington wants a court to stop Alaska from certifying a close Senate result. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has allowed New Hampshire to reject student IDs as voter identification.
Archive image · Photo: U.S. Department of the Interior / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain (cropped and resized)
In a dispute over two candidates named Dan Sullivan in Alaska’s Senate race, the U.S. Justice Department sued the state on Thursday. According to Fox News, the lawsuit targets Alaska, Elections Director Carol Beecher and the state’s election boards. The department accuses newcomer Daniel J. Sullivan of entering the race only to confuse voters and help Democrat Mary Peltola against Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan. It wants a federal judge to block certification of the result in the event of a close outcome, citing “voter confusion.” Beecher had initially rejected the newcomer’s candidacy, but the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that he must appear on the ballot. No response from Daniel J. Sullivan to the allegations was reported.
President Donald Trump said at a rally in Florida that he had pushed for the legal action: “I’m the one that said, do it.” He called the challenger “the fake” candidate. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis claimed the newcomer is funded by liberal donors through the ActBlue platform. Sen. Sullivan’s spokesman Nate Adams said: “We’ll let the DOJ complaint run its course.”
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Thursday allowed New Hampshire to reject student IDs as voter identification in the midterms, blocking a lower-court order. The majority cited the principle that election rules should not be changed shortly before a vote. Attorney General Todd Blanche would not rule out his department intervening in state certification of results in a “doomsday scenario.” The department’s Civil Rights Division plans to deploy its largest team of election observers yet on Nov. 3, according to its head, Harmeet Dhillon.