NRT briefing
Alaska judge denies Peltola request for rejected absentee ballot data
Based on reporting by Washington Examiner.
The Brief
Alaska Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews on Wednesday denied Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola's bid to force election officials to release data on rejected absentee ballots in her race against Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. Matthews called the request unreasonable, saying the data is not public records and that the Division of Elections faces a Nov. 18 deadline to finish counting and conduct ranked-choice tabulations if needed.
Peltola's campaign filed the lawsuit Friday against the division, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, and Director of Elections Carol Beecher, seeking rejected ballot lists to ensure valid votes are counted. State prosecutors argued disclosure would violate voter privacy and that the records are ephemeral working documents.
Peltola leads Sullivan by 4,250 votes as of Wednesday evening. The race has drawn scrutiny over allegations that Peltola's team recruited a second Dan Sullivan to confuse voters, which her former campaign manager told the New York Times.
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