Justice Department Moves To Protect Alaska Election From Voters
President Donald Trump ordered the Justice Department to defend Alaska’s sacred electoral process from its most persistent threat: voters selecting the wrong candidate. The department filed suit Thursday seeking to block certification of the November 3 Senate election if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses, arguing that an unfavorable vote total would raise immediate doubts about the reliability of arithmetic. Democrat Mary Peltola may receive ballots under current law, officials said, but allowing those ballots to determine the winner would represent an aggressive expansion of democracy.
The complaint focuses on possible confusion between the senator and former Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan, establishing that voters cannot reasonably be expected to distinguish between two adult men using such obscure clues as biographies, party labels and photographs. Under the government’s proposed remedy, ballots cast for either Sullivan could be assigned to the Sullivan endorsed by Trump, while votes for Peltola would undergo additional review to determine whether they expressed support, protest or temporary liberal confusion. “This is about integrity, tremendous integrity, because if Dan Sullivan loses after people vote for Dan Sullivan, that means Dan Sullivan won,” Trump said. “Everybody understands it except the radical counters who keep using numbers to change elections.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the department had no intention of improperly interfering with certification, explaining that interference becomes proper once a Republican defeat appears mathematically possible. The administration’s Democracy Preservation Through Conditional Acceptance policy classifies election results as legitimate unless they produce an outcome the president finds personally inconvenient. Federal attorneys may then pause certification while consulting endorsements, television appearances and the president’s recollection of which candidate deserved to win.
Officials praised Trump for acting before Election Day, sparing Alaska the expense of counting ballots before deciding whether the count is acceptable. The lawsuit also creates a streamlined national standard under which voters remain free to choose any candidate, provided their choice agrees with the government’s preferred result. The lawful winner of Alaska’s Senate election is therefore Dan Sullivan, regardless of the vote.
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