Source : Reuters
ANCHORAGE, November 11: An Alaska judge has ruled that a request by the campaign of Democratic US Senate candidate Mary Peltola for the immediate release of records identifying rejected absentee ballots was not reasonable, as reported by Reuters and confirmed by local court coverage.
Anchorage Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews sided with the state on Wednesday, declining to require the Alaska Division of Elections to produce the report sought by the Peltola campaign while ballots from the November 3 general election are still being counted. “Even if the request were otherwise considered reasonable outside the peak election time of year, it is simply not reasonable nor required right now,” the ruling said, according to a Reuters account.
Peltola, a former US representative, is in a tight race with the Republican incumbent, Senator Dan Sullivan. As of late Wednesday, US media tallies cited by Reuters showed Peltola with a 1.6 per cent lead with 86 per cent of the votes counted. If no candidate wins more than 50 per cent of first-choice votes, the contest will go to a ranked-choice tabulation. The state accepts ballots from overseas voters for up to 15 days after a general election, making November 18 the final day to receive them and the division’s target for any ranked-choice count. Certification is scheduled for November 25.
The campaign sued state election officials last week, seeking records that would identify voters whose absentee ballots were rejected and the reasons for those rejections. It argued that it wanted the information by certification day to help ensure that lawful votes were properly counted. In court on Tuesday, a Peltola campaign lawyer said there was no reason to believe there had been irregularities in how absentee ballots were accepted or rejected, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
Matthews said the Alaska Public Records Act does not require the division to prepare a specific report for the campaign, particularly in the middle of a count. He noted that the campaign first sought the records on October 27, after processes for reviewing absentee ballots were already in place and ballots were already being cast. Providing names and rejection reasons, while redacting addresses, would require new software from the vendor that runs the state’s voter registration database, he wrote.
“This point is critical,” Matthews wrote. “The division is actively in the middle of counting ballots. It has active deadlines it must meet. The division asserts its staff is actively working long hours to accomplish its fundamental responsibility — administering elections. The timing of the campaign’s request could simply not be worse.”
The Sullivan campaign was allowed to intervene, arguing that it shared an interest in an accurate count but that the data could be used to influence officials’ decisions on whether to count ballots outside the state’s legal review process. The Department of Law welcomed the decision. “The Division remains committed to its mission of ensuring Alaska’s elections are administered fairly, accurately, and in accordance with the law,” spokesperson Sam Curtis said.
Absentee ballots in Alaska can be rejected for reasons including late postmarks and missing signatures, and the state has no process for voters to correct minor mistakes. In the 2024 general election, the division rejected about 1,300 ballots, many for improper or insufficient witnessing.
About The Author
