Peltola campaign sues Alaska election officials, seeking data about absentee ballots that may be rejected

ANCHORAGE — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign on Friday sued Alaska elections officials in an attempt to get access to records involving absentee ballots in Tuesday’s general election, asserting that the state is violating the Alaska Public Records Act.

“The campaign is ensuring transparency, timeliness, and accuracy as the counting process continues and every Alaskans’ voice is heard,” the Peltola campaign said in statement about the lawsuit.

The Alaska Department of Law has not filed a response to the lawsuit, but said in a statement Friday afternoon that state law does not require the release of the information and that the agency plans to fight in court to keep the information protected.

The Peltola campaign is “seeking access to preliminary absentee ballot information” that shows whether absentee ballots for specific individuals are likely to be accepted or rejected — preliminary data that the division has long treated as confidential, said the statement provided by Department of Law spokesperson Sam Curtis.

The lawsuit comes in a closely watched contest for U.S. Senate that has grown increasingly contentious in recent weeks.

Peltola, a former congresswoman, leads by 637 votes over Sen. Dan Sullivan, a two-term Republican incumbent, with more than 215,000 ballots counted so far.

The elections division is still waiting to count tens of thousands of ballots, some of which have not yet been received. The winner of the race may not be known until Nov. 18, when ranked choice tabulation is scheduled to take place, and the race’s certification is set for Nov. 25.

Still, both the Peltola and Sullivan campaigns have released dueling path-to-victory statements arguing how their side will emerge victorious.

The Alaskans for Mary campaign filed the seven-page complaint against the Alaska Division of Elections; its director, Carol Beecher; and Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, who oversees the division. The case is before Anchorage Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews.

According to the lawsuit, the Division of Elections rejected requests by the Peltola campaign, first made on Oct. 27 to the agency’s regional offices, to receive a copy of the Absentee Register showing the “accept or reject code” of returned absentee ballots in the election, or other documents showing voters’ identities and the reason their ballots were rejected.

The Peltola campaign “cannot ensure that its voters’ lawful votes were properly counted without knowing whose absentee ballots were rejected or questioned, and why,” the complaint says. “With the counting of absentee ballots and review by the questioned ballot board currently in progress, and certification deadlines rapidly approaching, each hour and each day that Defendants deny Plaintiff the requested records to which it is entitled costs Plaintiff the opportunity to help ensure that qualified voters have their ballots counted.”

The lawsuit accuses the division of violating the Alaska Public Records Act “by denying, obstructing and attempting to obstruct” the campaign’s inspection of the public records.

“No Alaska statute protects the requested information from disclosure,” according to the campaign’s requests, which are included as attachments in the complaint.

The campaign does not “seek any personal confidential information” and the information is needed to “safeguard an accurate ballot count,” the requests say.

The Alaska Department of Law said in its statement that the lawsuit seeks copies of daily records before that information is final and is available to the voters themselves.

“During the absentee review process authorized observers may view certain daily records under confidentiality agreements,” the agency said. “Because the information is preliminary, subject to change, and not yet available to affected voters, the Division does not distribute the records separately or allow observers to retain them.”

“Alaska’s constitution and laws do not require the Division to provide this information in the manner requested by the campaign,” the agency said. “Releasing preliminary information in the manner sought by the lawsuit would create additional burdens during ballot processing and could delay the timely counting of votes. The Division has protected this information for years and will ask the court to protect it too.”

The Sullivan campaign did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

The Peltola campaign’s lawsuit comes on the heels of a federal case brought last month by the U.S. Department of Justice, on the orders of President Donald Trump, that seeks to stop the race’s certification if Sen. Sullivan narrowly loses.

That lawsuit, dismissed by a U.S. District Court judge in Alaska last weekend, additionally sought to segregate ballots for a possible investigation into whether votes cast for namesake challenger Dan J. Sullivan — a retired educator from Petersburg who received 1.7% of the vote in the most recent results — were intended for the incumbent.

The federal government has appealed that case to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, but the court is not expected to have briefings from both sides until Jan. 11, well after Alaska’s election result expected to be certified and more than a week after new senators are set to be sworn in.

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