Alaska rejects Trump's demand to sort 2024 Senate ballots

Alaska state officials filed a motion on Saturday to dismiss a federal lawsuit seeking to pause the certification of the state's U.S. Senate race. The state argues that the legal challenge, initiated by the White House, should be thrown out without a hearing.

The dispute centers on the presence of two candidates named Dan Sullivan on the November ballot. Republican Senator Dan Sullivan is listed as the incumbent, while a second candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan, appears as a write-in or minor party option. The Department of Justice has asked Judge Sharon L. Gleason to stop the certification process until it is determined if voters were confused by the identical names.

In a filing on Friday, the Justice Department requested that the judge order the separation of all ballots containing a vote for the second Sullivan. The state responded on Saturday by calling this demand both disturbing and impossible. Officials stated that identifying and sorting specific ballots would require violating the privacy of individual voters.

The lawsuit was filed at the direction of President Donald Trump. His administration has also demanded that Democratic candidate Mary Peltola be prosecuted after internal communications suggested her campaign helped recruit the second Sullivan, a retired school teacher from Petersburg, onto the ballot. The state filing counters that the ballot design clearly distinguishes the two men by listing the senator as a Republican and the other simply by name.

Judge Gleason set a deadline for Saturday for arguments regarding the dismissal. The state's attorney general's office wrote that there is no reason for the court to entertain the meritless lawsuit any longer. The filing urges the court to dismiss the case with prejudice, allowing state officials to count and certify the general election results without federal interference.

The state noted that officials carefully designed the ballot to minimize confusion between the two candidates. The filing marks a sharp disagreement between the federal government and the Alaska Republican leadership over the administration of the race. The judge has not yet ruled on the motion to dismiss.