The campaign of Democrat Mary Peltola has filed a lawsuit against the state of Alaska seeking access to records for absentee ballots rejected by the Alaska Division of Elections, according to a new court filing.
The filing says the campaign asked for the rejected ballot records on multiple occasions and was turned away each time. The campaign argues it needs the information to verify that valid votes were included in the count.
"Plaintiff cannot ensure that its voters' lawful votes were properly counted without knowing whose absentee ballots were rejected or questioned, and why," the lawsuit states. "Each hour and each day that Defendants deny Plaintiff the requested records to which it is entitled costs Plaintiff the opportunity to help ensure that qualified voters have their ballots counted."
The legal fight comes as Peltola holds a lead of just over 600 votes over Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan in Alaska's U.S. Senate race, with roughly 30 percent of the vote still outstanding, according to The Hill's partner Decision Desk HQ. No winner had been projected in the contest as of Saturday morning.
The Division of Elections pushed back in a release on Friday, arguing that voters whose ballots were rejected have not yet been given the information themselves, so the campaign should not receive it yet either. "Alaska's constitution and laws do not require the Division to provide this information in the manner requested by the campaign," the release said, adding that "releasing preliminary information in the manner sought by the lawsuit would create additional burdens during ballot processing and could delay the timely counting of votes."
The race has already drawn litigation. The Trump administration sued to block certification of the election if Sullivan loses, contending that the presence of a candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. on the ballot could confuse voters. A judge dismissed that case before Election Day, though the administration pledged to appeal.
Counting in Alaska is expected to stretch on for several more days. Ballots arriving from outside the country can be accepted up to 15 days after the election as long as they were postmarked by Election Day. Additional results do not have to be reported until Nov. 10, though the state may release them incrementally before then, and final totals are due by Nov. 18.
If no candidate finishes above 50 percent, which is currently the case, Alaska will decide the race through an instant runoff under its ranked choice voting system. The last-place candidate is eliminated and that candidate's supporters have their second, third and fourth choices redistributed, a process that repeats until one candidate holds a majority.
A Peltola victory would mark the eighth Senate seat flipped by Democrats following a strong performance on Tuesday night. Meanwhile, ballots are also still being tallied in Mississippi's Senate contest, where Democrat Scott Colom leads incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.
