Blanche defends Justice Department lawsuit over Alaska Senate certification

Attorney General Todd Blanche defended a Justice Department lawsuit Sunday that seeks to stop Alaska from certifying its Senate election results if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses and voter confusion may have affected the outcome. The pre-emptive case drew objections from Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski and the campaign of Democratic candidate Mary Peltola.

Sullivan faces Peltola in the Nov. 3 election. Also on the ballot is Daniel J. Sullivan, a retired schoolteacher. The Justice Department argues that the similarity between the candidates’ names could confuse voters. According to NPR, the suit, filed late Thursday in federal court in Alaska, asks that certification be blocked after the election until the government investigates whether votes for Daniel J. Sullivan were intended for the incumbent.

“This is the Department of Justice doing our own research under the law,” Blanche said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” He said the department wanted to “put guardrails in place” so ballots could be preserved and examined if the outcome raised questions. Blanche acknowledged that the election had not happened and officials did not yet know whether voters would be confused. If a court found the race had been decided “because of confusion, and not the will of the voters,” he said, the department did not think Alaska should certify the result.

On CNN’s “State of the Union,” Blanche denied that the suit was intended to give President Donald Trump a way to challenge an unfavorable result. “We’re not laying any groundwork for the president to do that,” he said. Blanche described the relief sought more narrowly as “to not certify if the law is broken” and said certification would ultimately be a question for Alaska and its courts.

The CNN interview grew tense when host Dana Bash asked whether the case could lead to a repeat of events after the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. “Oh, you got to stop it with that. You are not being a real person. Come on, man,” Blanche replied, calling the suggestion “crazy.” Trump, asked Friday about the lawsuit, told reporters: “I’m the one that said do it.” Blanche told CBS he did not know whom Trump meant and declined to discuss his communications with the president.

Alaska courts ruled that Daniel J. Sullivan could remain on the ballot after an election official sought to remove him, citing an effort to confuse voters. Blanche said the state court decision did not address federal law. Daniel J. Sullivan has denied running to mislead voters or draw support away from the incumbent, NPR reported.

Murkowski said Alaska had already distinguished the candidates on the ballot and that the Justice Department “should never have filed this lawsuit.” The incumbent is identified as a registered Republican and incumbent; the other candidate appears as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. without a party label, according to NPR. Alaska’s ranked-choice system also allows voters to rank both men.

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said on CBS that reviewing the situation was appropriate but questioned filing suit before the facts that might support it were known. Peltola’s campaign called the lawsuit “a despicable political threat to overturn an election.” Election-law experts quoted by The Guardian questioned the case’s legal strength; David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, described it as “an unprecedented intervention by the federal government.”