FormerNonpartisanBeth

Toad, almost everything in this post is contradicted by either the law, the record, or your own lawsuit. The Justice Department does not get to decide who belongs on Alaska’s ballot. Alaska administers its elections subject to federal constitutional and statutory requirements, and Alaska’s courts have already decided this specific dispute. The Alaska Supreme Court upheld the ruling allowing Daniel J. Sullivan to remain on the ballot after the Division of Elections tried to remove him over alleged voter confusion. You’re relying on the wrong federal law. Your lawsuit invokes the National Voter Registration Act. The NVRA regulates voter registration and maintenance of voter rolls. It does not give the Justice Department authority to decide which qualified candidates Alaska may place on its ballot, how Alaska must distinguish candidates with similar names, or whether votes legally cast for one candidate should somehow be treated as evidence that voters intended to vote for somebody else. Stop pretending this lawsuit isn’t about certification. Your own complaint asks the federal court to prevent Alaska from certifying a result if Dan S. Sullivan loses and the votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan could theoretically have changed the outcome. You can call that “preserving ballots” in a social-media post, but your complaint asks a federal judge to block certification pending an investigation. Those are your words and your requested relief, not anybody else’s characterization. Alaska already addressed the potential for confusion. The ballot identifies the incumbent as “Sullivan, Dan S.,” identifies him as the incumbent and a registered Republican, and separately lists “Sullivan, Daniel J. Jr.” without a party affiliation. Alaska’s courts specifically left ballot design to Alaska election officials under Alaska law. And exactly how do you intend to determine that someone who legally voted for Daniel J. Sullivan secretly intended to vote for Dan S. Sullivan? We have a secret ballot. A legally cast vote belongs to the candidate the voter selected. The Justice Department doesn’t get to interrogate voters about what they really meant and then transfer their votes to the candidate you think they intended to choose. Finally, spare us the claim that this had nothing to do with a candidate or campaign because DOJ lawyers drafted the complaint. The convicted felon publicly said he was the one who told his administration to file it: “I’m the one that said do it.” Having Justice Department attorneys type the lawsuit doesn’t magically make that fact disappear. The Alaska Supreme Court has already ruled. Alaska has already distinguished the candidates on the ballot. The federal statute you’re relying upon doesn’t give DOJ the authority you’re trying to manufacture from it. And your own complaint expressly asks a federal court to interfere with certification under the circumstances you describe. The Justice Department is not Alaska’s election board, and you don’t get to rewrite Alaska election law because you don’t like who qualified for its ballot.