Reject Trump’s ‘embarrassing’ Alaska lawsuit, voting experts tell court

Key Points:

• Voting experts and election scholars warned a federal appeals court that allowing the Trump administration to block certification of Alaska’s U.S. Senate race based on alleged voter confusion would set a dangerous precedent for federal interference in elections.
• The DOJ sued to prevent Alaska from certifying the race before election day, citing confusion caused by a longshot candidate with a similar name to incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan; however, state courts had already ruled on the issue and Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system reduces such confusion.
• Former Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer and UCLA’s Safeguarding Democracy Project filed amicus briefs urging the Ninth Circuit to dismiss the DOJ lawsuit, arguing there is no legal basis for federal intervention and that the state properly managed the election process.
• The briefs emphasized that election disputes should be resolved before elections, not after, and criticized the DOJ for filing the lawsuit late, invoking the laches doctrine to highlight the harm caused by mistimed election litigation.
• The Safeguarding Democracy Project framed the lawsuit as part of a broader pattern of the Trump administration’s attempts to undermine state authority over elections and called for a clear message affirming states’ exclusive right to certify election results.