Desperate Times

October 23, 2026

. . . call for desperate measures, and yesterday, the DOJ filed a lawsuit to prevent Alaska from certifying the winner of the race for U.S. Senator if the current (Republican) senator Dan S. Sullivan loses.

You may be aware of this race. There is another candidate by the name of Dan Sullivan, whom Republicans say is a Democratic plant who is running just to sow confusion and prevent the reelection of Senator Sullivan.

According to the lawsuit, in the primary race, “Senator Sullivan received 41.4% of the vote and Daniel J. Sullivan received 2.5% of the vote.” Now to me, that difference indicates that the voters did know which candidate was which. But wait, there’s more.

The lawsuit includes an image of the ballot, preceded by this claim: “As a result of Daniel J. Sullivan’s inclusion on the November ballot, the ballot will appear confusing to voters looking to vote for Senator Sullivan, as demonstrated by a sample ballot[.]” Here is how the names appear in the image (page 10):
Sullivan, Daniel J. Jr.
Sullivan, Dan S. (Registered Republican) Incumbent

How is that confusing? One is listed as a registered Republican; the other has no party affiliation. Also, the word “Incumbent” is a gigantic clue as to which one is the current senator. How stupid do the DOJ and the GOP think their voters are? This lawsuit is a huge insult to Alaskan voters. (Note that there is another candidate on the ballot who is listed as a Registered Republican, but the presence of another Republican on the ballot is not mentioned in the lawsuit as creating the risk of “voter confusion” among voters who vote by party rather than by candidate names.)

It is mind-boggling to me that the DOJ does not see that their own lawsuit refutes their claim that the inclusion of candidate Daniel J. Jr. on the ballot will confuse voters. And yet, the DOJ includes this in its Claim for Relief:

“41. Given the substantial likelihood that the inclusion of Daniel J. Sullivan will confuse or mislead voters looking to cast a vote for Senator Sullivan, and thus distort the will of Alaskan voters, there is a substantial likelihood that a certification of the election will reflect an electoral process that lacked integrity.

42. To guard against this danger, it is vital that Defendants not certify any election result that may be impacted by voter confusion. An election result may be impacted by voter confusion if: (1) Senator Sullivan does not win the election; and (2) had all votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan been cast instead for Senator Sullivan and Alaska’s rank-choice process played out accordingly, Senator Sullivan would have won the election.”

But what if Dan S. (Registered Republican) Incumbent loses and Daniel J. Jr. receives too few votes to put Dan S. (Registered Republican) Incumbent in first place, but the other Republican receives enough votes to keep Dan S. (Registered Republican) Incumbent from winning? Is the election certified in that case? I think it would be funny if Alaskan Republicans were so angered by this lawsuit and the DOJ’s attempt to interfere in their election that they vote for anyone except Dan S. (Registered Republican) Incumbent.

Anyway, here is what the DOJ is asking for in its Prayer for Relief:

“43. Declare that certification of any result that may be impacted by voter confusion, as defined above, would violate Defendants’ duties under the NVRA to ‘protect the integrity of the electoral process.’ 52 U.S.C. § 20501(b)(3).

44. Defendants from certifying any result that may be impacted by voter confusion, as defined above, pending an investigation to determine whether votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan were meant to be cast for Senator Sullivan and any further procedures or relief this Court deems necessary and appropriate to determine what the result would have been absent Daniel J. Sullivan’s inclusion on the ballot.¹

45. Award any other relief it deems just and proper.”

They seem to be counting heavily on “voter confusion,” but how can they investigate and determine whether a voter who voted for Daniel J. Jr. was confused and meant to vote for Dan S. (Registered Republican) Incumbent? We have secret ballots in this country. How does the DOJ expect Defendants to identify the voters who voted for Daniel J. Jr.? Will they have to put out a general request for voters to identify themselves and say whether they voted for Daniel J. Jr. intentionally or meant to vote for Dan S. (Registered Republican) Incumbent?

This lawsuit is absurd and is clearly an act of desperation by the MAGA party, which fears losing control of Congress.

Last-minute update: President Loser ordered the DOJ to file the lawsuit.
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¹ Either I am misreading this sentence or there should be a verb (e.g., Prohibit) before “Defendants,” and another one (e.g., order) before “any further.” Really poor wordsmithery here, in my humble opinion.


Lawsuit:
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.akd.80263/gov.uscourts.akd.80263.1.0.pdf

Update: https://apnews.com/article/alaska-senate-race-sullivan-name-lawsuit-certification-d8f4a3c7b5247cc427a05f796d7c0d82