Alaska urges federal court to dismiss Trump administration lawsuit over Senate race

Alaska state authorities have urged a federal court to throw out a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration that aims to block certification of the state's Senate contest if the Republican incumbent fails to win.

In court documents submitted on Saturday, representatives for the state's Republican-led administration argued that the federal government lacks the legal authority to meddle in state election procedures. The filing described the lawsuit as groundless and contended that the measures requested by federal attorneys would violate voters' privacy rights regarding secret ballots.

The legal clash emerged mere days ahead of Election Day. The Trump administration initiated the action on Oct. 22 against local election administrators, contending that race results should only be certified if Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan retains his seat. Federal officials claimed that the campaign of Democratic challenger Mary Peltola helped recruit a retired teacher with the identical name of Dan Sullivan to join the ballot, aiming to siphon support away from the sitting senator.

Peltola strongly denied any role in recruiting a duplicate candidate. Addressing supporters at a campaign event, she stated that she was deeply offended by the claims and had no desire to invite additional competitors into the contest.

The Trump administration recently updated its court complaint, referencing reporting by The New York Times that pointed to alleged campaign involvement based on statements from a former campaign manager, who subsequently tried to walk back those remarks. In an appearance on Fox News, Sen. Dan S. Sullivan accused his rival of deceptive tactics intended to cause voters to waste their ballots.

Alaska state lawyers countered that the state supreme court had already cleared the second candidate, Dan J. Sullivan, for the ballot months ago. They emphasized that ballots were carefully laid out to reduce potential voter mix-ups and argued that constitutional authority over elections belongs to individual states rather than federal agencies.

State officials also criticized a Justice Department request to isolate ballots that assign rankings to Dan J. Sullivan. The state's brief labeled that demand unworkable and inappropriate, noting that election records can easily identify how candidates were ranked without compromising ballot storage procedures.

The Alaska attorney general's office called on the presiding judge to permanently throw out the case, allowing local authorities to proceed with tallying and certifying votes without federal intervention. A ruling on the state's motion to dismiss is anticipated shortly.