The United States Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit seeking to delay certification of Alaska’s Senate election result if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan narrowly loses to Democrat Mary Peltola in the November 3 midterms.
asserted
Sullivan → file → midterms
Another candidate named Dan Sullivan is also on the ballot.
asserted
candidate → name → ballot
listIn a lawsuit filed on Thursday, the department argued that the second Sullivan, a retired teacher who registered as a Republican, is deliberately trying to confuse voters.
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who → file → voters
Alaska’s Supreme Court has already ruled that both candidates may remain on the ballot.
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candidates → rule → ballot
So who are the two Dan Sullivans, and what could the lawsuit mean for the election?
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lawsuit → mean → election
What is happening in Alaska’s US Senate race?
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What → happen → race
Senator Sullivan is seeking a third six-year term in the race against Peltola, a former congresswoman who became the first Alaska Native elected to the US House of Representatives in 2022.
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who → seek → 2022
Alaska has traditionally voted Republican in presidential elections.
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Alaska → vote → elections
President Donald Trump won the state by roughly 13 percentage points in 2024, but this year’s Senate race appears more competitive.
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race → win → 2024
In August’s primary, Peltola received 49.5 percent of the vote, compared with about 41 percent for Senator Sullivan.
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Peltola → receive → Sullivan
Two other candidates advanced to the November 3 election: Daniel J Sullivan Jr and Gerald Heikes.
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candidates → advance → election
Dan S Sullivan was first elected to the US Senate in 2014 and was re-elected in 2020.
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Sullivan → elect → 2020
He previously served as Alaska’s attorney general and commissioner of natural resources.
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He → serve → resources
His entry into the race this year prompted accusations from Republicans that he was trying to confuse voters, something he has denied.
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he → prompt → something
Alaska election officials initially disqualified him, but the state’s courts overturned the decision.
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courts → disqualify → decision
In June, the Alaska Supreme Court allowed him to remain on the ballot.
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him → allow → ballot
The ballot identifies the incumbent as “Sullivan, Dan S (Registered Republican) Incumbent” and the other candidate as “Sullivan, Daniel J Jr” without a party designation, even though he has registered as a Republican.
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he → identify → Republican
Glenn Wright, a political science professor at the University of Alaska Southeast, told Al Jazeera that voters should have no problem recognising each candidate.
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voters → tell → candidate
“The ballots are super, super, super clear about who the incumbent Dan Sullivan is,” he said.
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he → say → ?
But Forrest Nabors, chairman of the political science department at the University of Alaska Anchorage, said the similar names could still affect the result.
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names → say → result
“It could swing the election if the election is close and the margin of voters who intend to re-elect the senator are confused and accidentally vote for the other candidate named Sullivan,” he told Al Jazeera.
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he → swing → Jazeera
Why has the Justice Department filed a lawsuit?
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Department → file → lawsuit
The Justice Department sued Alaska in federal court on Thursday, arguing that having two candidates with similar names could mislead voters.
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having → sue → voters
It wants the state to be prevented from certifying the result if the Republican senator loses by fewer votes than his namesake receives, pending an investigation into possible voter confusion and whether voters mistakenly supported the wrong Sullivan.
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voters → want → Sullivan
The lawsuit cited the National Voter Registration Act, a federal law governing voter registration.
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lawsuit → cite → registration
Nabors described the Justice Department’s intervention as “unusual” but said there could be circumstances in which federal action is justified.
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action → describe → which
“It’s perhaps not unreasonable,” he said, adding that federal intervention could be justified when an election is administered unfairly.
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election → ’ → ?
“Whether voters are confused and erroneously vote or not is a question that is hard to measure,” he added.
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he → confuse → ?
Wright questioned the basis of the lawsuit at all, however.
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Wright → question → lawsuit
“The legal filing is either, you know, a filing in bad faith, or it’s a filing that misunderstands the way that Alaska’s election system operates,” he said.
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he → know → way
How does Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system work?
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system → rank → ?
Unlike most US states, Alaska allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference rather than voting for just one.
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voters → allow → one
The four candidates with the most votes in the primary advance to the general election, regardless of party.
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candidates → advance → party
If nobody wins more than 50 percent of the first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated.
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candidate → win → votes
Their votes are transferred to the next-ranked candidates still in the race.
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votes → transfer → race
This continues until two candidates remain, and the one with the most votes wins.
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one → continue → votes
Wright said the system helps prevent candidates with a smaller support base from splitting the vote.
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system → say → vote
“It’s supposed to eliminate the spoiler effect,” he explained.
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he → suppose → effect
For example, if a voter mistakenly chooses Daniel J Sullivan Jr but ranks the incumbent second, their vote could eventually transfer to the senator.
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vote → choose → senator
“The system is actually designed to cope with this sort of a thing,” Wright said.
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Wright → design → thing
…and 26 more, not listed.
The Aporia
