DOJ Sues to Halt Alaska Election Certification

The Department of Justice has asked a federal court to hold up the certification of the Alaska U.S. Senate race. The department claims voters may have been confused by two candidates sharing the same name on the ballot. President Donald Trump directed the lawsuit late last week. He followed the legal move by calling for the prosecution of Democratic candidate Mary Peltola. Prosecutors would base their case on a New York Times report that her campaign helped recruit a voter named Dan Sullivan to draw votes from Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan.

Legal scholars say this marks the first time since the Civil Rights era that the federal government has sued to stop an election from being certified. The Constitution typically gives that duty to state governments. Trump has spent years claiming elections are rigged when his party loses. At recent rallies, he labeled the ranked choice voting system in Alaska a scam. The new lawsuit moves his campaign from rhetoric to legal action as Republicans struggle to keep control of Congress.

The administration is taking other aggressive steps. Trump announced a $1 million bounty for proof of voter fraud earlier this week. The Justice Department sued California to stop it from counting ballots after alleging 20,000 noncitizens were on its rolls. It made a similar demand in Washington regarding 400 voters. A federal judge rejected the California demands Wednesday. The department also seized 2020 election records in Fulton County, Georgia, and opened a sweeping investigation of that vote.

Republican allies in Alaska are divided on the strategy. Senator Dan Sullivan declined to say if he supports the lawsuit. Alaska’s state government, which is controlled by Republicans, filed papers asking courts to dismiss the federal suit. Senator Lisa Murkowski said the administration should never have filed the case. Derek Muller, a law professor at Notre Dame, called the legal argument one of the worst he has ever seen. He believes the conduct looks impulsive rather than planned.

The courts have often blocked the administration’s election efforts. Judges put on hold two executive orders meant to change voting procedures. The government has lost more than two dozen cases seeking voter data from states. Matt Dallek, a political scientist at Georgetown, expects courts to throw out most of these charges. He notes the moves intensify the signal to Trump’s base that the elections are rigged.

Early voting has proceeded without major disruption. About 35 million Americans have already cast ballots. Theresa Lee, a senior attorney with the ACLU, said her organization has been preparing for this scenario for at least a year and a half. Brendan Nyhan, a political scientist at Dartmouth, warned that the real threat is that Trump will take actions that cannot be undone before courts can weigh in.