In what can only be called one of the greatest trolls in American history, a man named Dan Sullivan entered Alaska’s Senate race knowing he shared the name of Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan. The confusion is brilliant.
The only problem is that the Trump administration has preemptively filed a lawsuit to block certification of Alaska’s Senate election if Sen. Dan Sullivan loses, because apparently the Senate balance of power is so precarious that a man with the wrong Dan Sullivan on his ballot might accidentally turn the whole thing blue.
The Justice Department lawsuit argues that including Daniel J. Sullivan on the ballot could confuse voters and undermine the election’s legitimacy. It asks a court to block certification if that confusion affects the outcome, potentially delaying the results of a race that could help determine which party controls the Senate, CNN reports.
Democrats need to gain four seats in November to take control, and Alaska is among the Republican-held states they hope to flip. Democratic candidate Mary Peltola is challenging the incumbent in a race with little reliable polling, making every vote potentially significant.
President Donald Trump has already made his feelings known. In a Truth Social post, he called the second Sullivan’s candidacy a “SCAM” and threatened legal action to remove him from the ballot. At a rally in Wasilla earlier this month, Trump called the situation “cheating,” alleging that someone had recruited a candidate with the same name to confuse voters.
Daniel J. Sullivan is a registered Republican, but Alaska election officials list him without a party affiliation. The incumbent is identified as “Registered Republican” and “incumbent.” In the primary, the senator received 68,726 votes, compared with 4,107 for his similarly named challenger.
The Justice Department’s legal argument, however, may be a harder sell than Trump’s social media tantrum.
Derek Muller, an election law professor at Notre Dame Law School, described the lawsuit’s theory as “strange and unusual.” He said he had never seen the federal voter registration law’s introductory language used this way, arguing that the administration was trying to stretch it into broad authority over state election operations.
“They’re just plucking from the preface and saying this gives them a free-wheeling right to enjoin operations in a state,” Muller said. “I just don’t think a court is going to buy that.”
And here’s where things get particularly ridiculous: Alaska uses ranked-choice voting. Voters can rank candidates in order of preference, and if nobody wins a majority of first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and those ballots are redistributed according to voters’ next choices.
In other words, someone who wants the incumbent to win can rank both Sullivans. The system lets voters distinguish between the two candidates even if they initially confuse their names.
The state Supreme Court already ruled in June that Daniel J. Sullivan should remain on the ballot after election officials initially removed him. Officials also took steps to distinguish the candidates by including their middle initials and identifying the incumbent.
Ben Ginsberg, a Republican election lawyer and former Republican National Committee counsel, questioned why the Justice Department was pursuing the case.
“I think they must have a client who is demanding it,” Ginsberg said. “There is not a rational legal reason to do it.”
U.S. District Judge Sharon L. Gleason, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, has been assigned the lawsuit. Alaska officials expect ranked-choice tabulation to begin Nov. 18.
So, to recap: A man named Dan Sullivan is running for office, another Dan Sullivan is worried about losing, and the Trump administration wants a federal court to intervene before the votes are even counted.
Democracy, apparently, is perfectly acceptable until somebody named Dan shows up and makes the wrong Republican nervous.
SEE ALSO:
Will Alaska’s Real Dan Sullivan Please Stand Up? [Op-Ed]
Jared Kushner Accused Of Taking Billions To Influence US Policy
