Meet Daniel J. Sullivan. He's a teacher from Petersburg, a tiny fishing community in Alaska. He has voted in Alaska races before. Now he is the centerpiece of a federal lawsuit.
His crime is his name.
The Justice Department wants Alaska blocked from certifying a Mary Peltola win if he stays on the ballot. Its filing says his candidacy was meant to mislead voters. Daniel J. Sullivan says he ran on his own. Republicans say he's a Democratic plant. A teacher from a fishing village. Playing 4D chess with a name his parents gave him.
Trump confirmed he ordered the suit. His words: "I'm the one that said, 'do it.'" Refreshing. Most defendants in a fraud case don't get a confession this early.
Now Peltola's campaign, the Democratic Senate campaign committee, the League of Women Voters of Alaska, Common Cause and two individual voters want in. They argue the executive branch has no authority to meddle in state-run elections. Early voting is already underway. The suit asks for an investigation into whether people who voted for Daniel J. Sullivan meant to vote for Dan Sullivan.
Read that again. The remedy is a federal inquiry into voter intent. Voters would be interviewed about what they were thinking in the booth. Someone in Juneau gets paid to ask a fisherman, "Did you mean the other Dan?"
Legal experts called the argument bunk. A former Alaska elections attorney called it laughably bad. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, joined the backlash. When your own party's senator is handing out the criticism, the suit has a branding problem.
The DOJ also worries Sen. Sullivan's supporters will be confused about how to rank the three Republican candidates. Alaska uses ranked-choice voting. The suit's theory is that Alaskans can't count to two.
Attorney General Todd Blanche says the government doesn't seek to stop certification. It only wants ballots preserved so officials can determine whether voters were confused. Sure. And a restraining order is just a hug with paperwork.
The ballot has four names. One belongs to a teacher who now has a federal case named after him.
Dan Sullivan may lose his Senate seat. Daniel J. Sullivan already won the one thing nobody wanted: a lawsuit from the President of the United States.
Photo by Katherine Hood on Unsplash
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