Election Intervention: DOJ Sues to Block Alaska Senate Certification

The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit on Wednesday to prevent the certification of the U.S. Senate race in Alaska. The federal government is asking a court to pause the official count of a potential Democratic victory. Officials claim voters may have been confused by two candidates sharing the name Dan Sullivan on the ballot. President Donald Trump directed the Justice Department to take this action late last week.

The move marks the first time since the Civil Rights era that the federal government has sued to halt the certification of an election. The Constitution assigns the duty of certifying elections to the states. Trump has spent years claiming elections are rigged when his party trails. He has used recent midterm rallies to criticize election officials by name. He also labeled Alaska’s ranked choice voting system, which could determine Senate control, a scam.

The conflict began with a New York Times report that Democratic candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign recruited a third-party candidate named Dan Sullivan. The goal was to siphon votes from the Republican incumbent, who shares that name. Trump followed the lawsuit by calling for the prosecution of Peltola. He also announced a $1 million bounty for evidence of voter fraud earlier this week. The governor of Alaska has ordered an investigation into the matter.

Theresa Lee, a senior attorney with the ACLU, said her group has been preparing for this scenario for more than a year and a half. She noted that Democrats and voting rights groups have been running exercises for months. They have pre-written lawsuits and plan to deploy tens of thousands of poll monitors on Election Day. Early voting has proceeded without notable disruption, with about 35 million people already casting ballots.

Trump told reporters this week that he would accept the results if the elections are honest. He previously claimed Ted Cruz stole the 2016 Iowa caucuses. Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Sunday that the Justice Department does not want to intervene but had no choice in Alaska. Blanche stated, “We are not doing anything improper.” He added that the administration is not trying to take over a state election in any way.

Republican allies in Alaska appear divided by the federal action. Senator Lisa Murkowski said the administration should never have filed the suit. Alaska’s Republican-controlled state government filed papers to dismiss the case. Senator Dan Sullivan did not state whether he supported the lawsuit. Derek Muller, a law professor at Notre Dame, described the legal argument as one of the worst he has ever seen. He called the administration’s conduct impulsive rather than strategic.

The Justice Department has recently sued California and Washington to block ballot counting. A federal judge rejected the government’s demands regarding California on Wednesday. The administration also seized ballots and records from Georgia’s Fulton County earlier this year. Courts have put on hold two executive orders seeking to change voting procedures. The administration has lost more than two dozen cases seeking detailed voter information from states.

Pat McCrory, a former North Carolina governor, said the Constitution will protect the system from anarchy. Matt Dallek, a political historian at George Washington University, expects courts to throw out most of the administration’s charges. He noted the actions intensify the signal to supporters that elections are rigged. Brendan Nyhan, a political scientist at Dartmouth, warned that the real threat is actions that cannot be undone. The Justice Department is currently waiting for a court ruling in Alaska.