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Alaska judge rules a request by Peltola campaign for ballot data in Senate race is 'not reasonable'
PBS • • nation
Key Points:
- An Alaska judge denied Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola's campaign request for a list of absentee voters with rejected ballots, citing timing issues and election officials' workload amid ongoing ballot counting.
- The judge acknowledged that while voter records could theoretically be redacted and released, producing such information at this stage would be unreasonable and could compromise voter privacy.
- Alaska's ranked-choice Senate election remains undecided, with ballots still being tallied and absentee ballots accepted up to 15 days post-election, until November 18.
- Peltola's campaign argued the requested information is public record and necessary to ensure all qualified votes are counted, but state officials contend the data contains confidential information and is not intended for public release.
- The Division of Elections highlighted technical limitations of their database and confidentiality concerns, noting that absentee ballot review observers sign agreements restricting use of sensitive voter information.
