Sullivan campaign moves to block Peltola lawsuit seeking records of rejected absentee ballots in tight Alaska Senate race

Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan's re-election campaign filed a motion Monday to intervene in a lawsuit brought by Democrat Mary Peltola's Senate campaign, arguing the suit seeks to force Alaska elections officials to disregard state law.

Sullivan and Peltola remain locked in a razor-thin contest for Alaska's U.S. Senate seat following last week's midterm election. Peltola's campaign sued the Alaska Division of Elections on Friday, seeking access to records for absentee ballots that were preliminarily rejected.

The Division responded that individual voters have not yet been notified their ballots were rejected, and that it would be improper to grant Peltola's campaign access to that information before the voters themselves learn of it.

Sullivan's campaign argued Monday that the lawsuit amounts to an attempt to rig the system in Peltola's favor.

"It should surprise no one that the same D.C. lawyers who spent more than a year conspiring with Mary Peltola's campaign to deceive Alaskan voters are now asking a court to let her campaign ignore Alaska law and change the rules while votes are still being counted," said Nate Adams, a campaign spokesman.

"Peltola's lawsuit is only further evidence that she is not confident she can win on the merits alone, which is why her campaign is once again attempting to rig the system in her favor," Adams added. He said his campaign is "following Alaska precedent to make sure every legally cast ballot is counted, and we remain confident that when every one of those ballots is counted, Senator Sullivan will win."

As of Monday, Peltola led Sullivan by just over 600 votes, with more than 25% of votes still left to be counted.

The legal skirmish comes as Sullivan and Republicans continue to condemn Democrats over what they call a "Decoy Dan" scheme, in which an independent candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan appeared on the ballot in an alleged plot to siphon votes away from the GOP incumbent.

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, said the other Sullivan sought to appear on the general election ballot as Daniel S. Sullivan, using the incumbent's middle initial rather than his own. "That kind of opened our eyes and we began an investigation back there, the Division of Elections did, to determine if this was a legitimate candidacy, and the Division of Elections at that time found that was not and did not put him on the ballot," Dunleavy said.

"Then there was a court case and the Supreme Court in the end ruled against the Division of Elections in Alaska, and they must go on the ballot," Dunleavy said. After a New York Times report tied potential knowledge of the "Decoy Dan" scheme to Peltola's campaign, the governor reopened the investigation into possible wrongdoing.