JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A state judge said Tuesday he expects to issue a quick ruling in a lawsuit filed by Alaska Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign that seeks a list of absentee voters whose ballots were rejected in one of the most closely watched midterm elections.
LIVE RESULTS: Alaska Senate midterm election
Peltola’s campaign also said it wants to know the reasons for the rejections and said its intention is to ensure that all qualified voters have their ballots counted. Attorneys for the state say the requested information would invade voters’ privacy.
The campaign was filed Friday, three days after the ranked-choice election in which Peltola and two-term Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan are the leading contenders. Absentee, in-person and other ballots are still being counted.
Support free and independent journalism. Join the PBS News Press Pass
Alaska’s is one of two U.S. Senate elections, along with Mississippi’s, that remain too early to call.
During arguments before state Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews, Peltola’s attorney, Abha Khanna, said the campaign was not seeking to disrupt the ongoing vote counting process and saw no reason for concern.
LEARN MORE: Alaskans are expecting more votes in Senate and gubernatorial races. Both could be subject to classified tabulations
“As far as we can tell, the absentee ballot review process is going incredibly well and we plan to continue doing so,” she said.
But Khanna argued that the information the campaign seeks is in the public domain and is consistent with what campaign observers have access to in locations where absentee review panels meet. The campaign wants to access this information in a more centralized way, she said.
Absentee review panels meet at state Division of Elections regional offices, and campaigns and parties may have observers on site to observe the process. State law includes provisions allowing mail-in ballots to be challenged if there is “good reason to suspect” that a challenged voter is not eligible to vote.
In a court filing, attorneys for the state said the daily reports generated by the division with lists of absentee ballots for review are not public records because they contain confidential information and are “transient working documents that are not intended to be retained.”
The final say on whether to accept or reject an absentee ballot rests with the state review board, which reviews the work of regional absentee review boards.
The version of the report that observers, such as those affiliated with campaigns, receive does not include as much confidential information but does include home addresses that many voters seek to keep private, said Michaela Thompson, who manages the absentee ballot review boards for the Elections Division.
The state’s “old and inflexible” voter database cannot produce a report that excludes confidential addresses, she said.
Observers must sign confidentiality agreements and cannot retain, copy or record information in the report, she said. No absentee ballots are rejected until the state review board process is complete and the results are certified, she said.
Assistant Attorney General Margaret Paton Walsh told the judge that state law sets deadlines for notifying voters if their absentee ballot is rejected. Voters can check the status of their ballot through an online system, but the information is not released until at least 10 days after certification, she said.
It doesn’t make sense for a campaign to have access to this information before the voter, she said.
Alaska does not have a process for voters to resolve issues with mail-in ballots that can cause them to be rejected, such as forgetting to sign the envelope.
The state accepts ballots from out-of-state voters up to 15 days after the general election, making Nov. 18 the last day to receive them. It is also the goal of the Division of Elections to conduct ranked vote tabulations if no candidate wins more than 50% of the first-choice votes.
The division announced vote counts for Tuesday and Friday this week, with the possibility of additional days, as well as the November 18 count.
Sullivan’s campaign attorney, Stacey Stone, filed a motion on behalf of the state. But the campaign said that if the judge ordered the production of data or documents, he asked that that information be released “equally and simultaneously to all candidates in the affected race.”
Matthews said he plans to issue a written decision within a day of Tuesday’s hearing.
A free press is the cornerstone of a healthy democracy.
Support trusted journalism and civil dialogue.
Gn headline
