The U.S. Senate candidate’s inclusion on the ballot has already been legally contested.
President Donald Trump confirmed that he directed the U.S. Department of Justice to sue the state of Alaska and its election officials over allowing a second candidate named Danial J. Sullivan to run in the U.S. Senate race against incumbent Senator Daniel S. Sullivan.
The state’s Division of Elections had determined earlier this year that the second Sullivan was ineligible to run against the U.S. Senator, stating the retired teacher and former U.S. Forest Service employee was running “to confuse or mislead” voters in the state’s ranked-choice voting process. However, the Alaska Supreme Court later upheld a lower court’s decision that had returned the other Sullivan to the ballot.
The DOJ lawsuit stated, “Congress has tasked state officials with ‘protect[ing] the integrity of the electoral process‘… and the Supreme Court has long recognized that states ‘ha[ve] an interest, if not a duty, to protect the integrity of its political processes from frivolous or fraudulent candidacies.‘“
Under the National Voter Registration Act, the administration requested that U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason prevent defendants from “certifying any result that may be impacted by voter confusion… pending an investigation to determine whether votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan were meant to be cast for Senator Sullivan.”
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For President Trump as he directs actions involving the midterm elections.
- For Attorney General Blanche to be discerning as he manages the Justice Department.
- For Judge Gleason and other federal judges as they hear election-related legal challenges.
- For Alaska’s election officials as they handle the litigation regarding the inclusion of the second Sullivan on the ballot.
Sources: Newsweek, The Hill, MSN, Politico, Court Listener, Roll Call
