Trump DOJ sues to block Alaska US Senate results if Republican incumbent loses

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The Trump administration has preemptively filed a lawsuit seeking to block certification of Alaska’s US Senate election if the Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan loses in the state which could decide the balance of power in the Senate.

The lawsuit represents the latest attempt of the Trump Justice Department to insert itself in the administration of elections, running up against the minimal role the Constitution gives the Executive Branch to unilaterally get involved in running the vote. It alleges that the presence of a candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan could confuse voters and wants a court to potentially delay the certification of the election if Sen. Sullivan is defeated next month.

The lawsuit is based on a “strange and unusual” legal theory, said Derek Muller, an election law professor at Notre Dame Law School. It’s also unclear, he said, on a practical level, how a court could even intervene in the way the Justice Department proposes.

The battle for control of the Senate could come down to Alaska, where there has been little reliable polling but where Dan S. Sullivan, the incumbent senator, and Democrat Mary Peltola have been in a closely contested race. Democrats need to net four seats in November to win the Senate, and Alaska is one of several Republican-held states that Democrats are hoping to flip.

The presence of the second Sullivan has brought additional controversy to the race and has already been a source of litigation, as Republicans have alleged he is running spoiler candidacy designed to confuse voters.

Daniel J. Sullivan is a registered Republican, but state election officials listed him on the ballot without a party affiliation. Sen. Sullivan is labeled on the ballot as “Registered Republican” and “incumbent.”

In the primary, the incumbent Dan Sullivan won 68,726 votes. Daniel J. Sullivan won 4,107.

The lawsuit points to the preface of a federal law setting guard rails on states’ voter registration procedures – a preface that explains the law’s goals of protecting the “integrity of the electoral process” – as giving the court the power to intervene.

Muller said he had never seen an attempt to use the introductory language of the federal voter registration law in the way the Justice Department is trying to use it now.

“The United States likewise suffers an injury when the certification of the election for a federal office is tainted by a frivolous candidacy because that undermines confidence in the make-up and workings of the federal government,” the lawsuit says.

Muller said he had never seen an attempt to use the introductory federal voter registration law in the way the Justice Department is trying to use it now.

“They’re just plucking from the preface and saying this gives them a free-wheeling right to enjoin operations in a state, and I just don’t think a court is going to buy that,” Muller said.

Under Alaska’s voting system, the top four candidates from the primary, regardless of party, advanced to the general election. On the general election ballot, voters have the option to rank the candidates in order of preference. If no candidate gets a majority of first choice votes, voters’ other rankings come into play. In each round of the tabulation, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and their votes are reallocated to whoever those voters ranked next highest. That process continues until only two candidates remain and there’s a winner.

DOJ alleges there is a possibility that voters intending to cast ballots might not rank the incumbent senator at all, or will rank Daniel J. Sullivan over him, resulting in the challenger’s votes going to the Democratic candidate if the race goes into additional rounds of tabulation.

“Even if a majority of Alaskans wish to vote for Senator Sullivan, Daniel J. Sullivan’s presence on the ballot will result in a victory for Peltola,” the lawsuit states.

Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images

如果共和党现任参议员丹·沙利文在阿拉斯加州败选，特朗普政府将先发制人地提起诉讼，试图阻止阿拉斯加州美国参议院选举结果的认证。阿拉斯加州的选举结果可能决定参议院的权力平衡。

这起诉讼是特朗普政府司法部试图干预选举的最新举措，与宪法赋予行政部门单方面介入选举的有限权限相悖。诉讼称，丹尼尔·J·沙利文的参选可能会使选民感到困惑，并希望法院在沙利文参议员下个月落败的情况下，推迟选举结果的认证。

圣母大学法学院选举法教授德里克·穆勒表示，这起诉讼所依据的法律理论“既奇怪又不寻常”。他还说，从实际层面来看，法院究竟如何才能以司法部提出的方式进行干预，这一点也尚不明确。

参议院控制权的争夺战可能最终取决于阿拉斯加州。尽管该州可靠的民调数据不多，但现任参议员丹·S·沙利文和民主党候选人玛丽·佩尔托拉的选情一直十分胶着。民主党需要在11月的大选中净增四个席位才能赢得参议院的控制权，而阿拉斯加州是民主党希望翻盘的几个共和党把持州之一。

第二位苏利文的出现给这场竞选带来了更多争议，并已成为诉讼的根源，因为共和党人指责他是在搞搅局，旨在迷惑选民。

丹尼尔·J·沙利文是一名注册共和党人，但州选举官员在选票上列出他时并未注明党派。沙利文参议员在选票上被标注为“注册共和党人”和“现任”。

在初选中，现任总统丹·沙利文赢得了 68,726 票。丹尼尔·沙利文 (Daniel J. Sullivan) 赢得 4,107 杆。

诉讼指出，一项联邦法律的前言为各州的选民登记程序设定了保障措施——该前言解释了该法律的目标，即保护“选举过程的完整性”——赋予了法院干预的权力。

穆勒表示，他从未见过有人像司法部现在这样试图使用联邦选民登记法的引言部分。

诉讼称：“如果联邦公职选举的认证因轻率的候选人资格而受到玷污，美国也会遭受损害，因为这会削弱人们对联邦政府的组成和运作的信心。”

穆勒表示，他从未见过有人像司法部现在这样试图利用联邦选民登记法。

“他们只是断章取义地引用前言，声称这赋予了他们随意禁止某州企业运营的权利，我认为法院不会接受这种说法，”穆勒说。

在阿拉斯加的选举制度下，初选中得票最高的四位候选人，无论党派，都将进入大选。在大选选票上，选民可以按偏好顺序对候选人进行排名。如果没有候选人获得超过半数的第一选择票，则根据选民的其他排名进行计票。在每一轮计票中，得票最少的候选人将被淘汰，其选票将重新分配给选民排名第二高的候选人。这个过程持续进行，直到只剩下两名候选人，最终决出胜负。

美国司法部声称，有可能导致打算投票的选民根本不会给现任参议员排名，或者会把丹尼尔·J·沙利文排在他前面，如果选举进入额外的计票轮次，挑战者的选票就会流向民主党候选人。

诉讼称：“即使大多数阿拉斯加人希望投票给苏利文参议员，丹尼尔·J·苏利文的名字出现在选票上也会导致佩尔托拉获胜。”