Trump says he ordered DOJ lawsuit to block certification of Alaska’s Senate election results

President Donald Trump said he ordered the Justice Department to file a lawsuit blocking certification of Alaska’s US Senate election results, telling reporters in Florida on Friday: “I’m the one that said do it.” The lawsuit was filed Thursday, 11 days before the November 3 election day. Trump made the remarks during a visit to Fort Myers ahead of a campaign rally.

The DOJ argues that Daniel J Sullivan, a retired schoolteacher and registered Republican who lives in Petersburg, a town of about 3,000 people in southern Alaska, shares the name of two-term incumbent Senator Dan S Sullivan. The two Sullivans are not related. The DOJ filing states there is a substantial likelihood that certification of the election will reflect an electoral process that lacked integrity due to voter confusion, and the department is asking a federal judge to delay certification pending an investigation into whether votes cast for Daniel J Sullivan were meant for Senator Sullivan. The Alaska state Supreme Court rejected a Republican effort to remove Daniel J Sullivan from the ballot in June. On the November 3 ballot, Daniel J Sullivan appears without a party designation, while Senator Sullivan is listed as “(Registered Republican) Incumbent.”

Senate control could hinge on Alaska

Mary Peltola, a former Democratic congresswoman, is the Democratic nominee. The race is within the margin of error, and a Public Policy Polling survey earlier in October showed Peltola with a narrow one-point lead. Control of the US Senate after November 3 could come down to this race. Trump claimed without evidence that Daniel J Sullivan was put up by Democrats to siphon votes from the incumbent. Alaska uses ranked-choice voting, adopted by voters in 2020, under which the top four candidates from an open primary advance to the general election and voters rank candidates in order of preference. Under that system, voters can select both Sullivans if they are unsure. Trump has attacked ranked-choice voting as a “scam” and urged Alaskans at a rally in Wasilla to support a state ballot measure to repeal it.

Experts call the legal claim ‘absurdly thin’

Derek Mueller, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, wrote that “the legal claim is so absurdly thin, there’s essentially no likelihood of success.” David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, called the lawsuit “an unprecedented intervention by the federal government” and said he could not recall an administration ever attempting to stop certification of an election, certainly not 11 days before polls close. The DOJ cited the preamble of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act to justify the lawsuit. Attorney General Todd Blanche said it is not DOJ’s intention to improperly interfere with elections or the state certification process. Brennan Center for Justice senior counsel Lauren Miller Karalunas said state certification processes were created with safeguards to stop bad actors from manipulating outcomes. The DOJ has recently taken actions against Democratic critics of Trump, including charging Virginia state Senator L Louise Lucas in a public corruption case and launching a probe into Democratic Representative Ilhan Omar over allegations of immigration fraud.