An Alaska judge denied Mary Peltola's campaign the rejected absentee ballot list in a still-uncalled Senate race, Sullivan's side calls it another bid to rig the system.
Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews blocked the former Democratic congresswoman's request for a report drawn from Alaska's voter registration database as the Division of Elections works through the 2026 general election count.
The Hill reported that Matthews issued a 17-page ruling and found the office cannot produce the records Peltola's Senate campaign demanded while ballots are still being processed.
Matthews wrote that the Division of Elections is “currently busy processing ballots from the 2026 general election” and “simply lacks the capacity to generate the report from” the voter registration system known as VREM.
"Even if the request were otherwise considered reasonable outside the peak election time of year, it is simply not reasonable nor required right now."
He added that such electronic services “are not mandatory, but permissive,” and that any request “must be reasonable.” Because of the difficulty involved, he concluded the Division of Elections “is not required to disclose VREMS records.”
Decision Desk HQ figures as of Wednesday night showed Peltola at 48.63 percent and Sen. Dan Sullivan, the Republican incumbent, at 46.90 percent. The contest has not been called.
Republican candidate Gerald Heikes held 2.18 percent. Another candidate named Dan J. Sullivan sat at about 1.65 percent. That same-name entry has been a flashpoint throughout the cycle, including earlier court fights over whether he belonged on the ballot at all.
Alaska officials still transport ballots across remote parts of the state. Ballots postmarked by Election Day can arrive up to 15 days afterward, which keeps the count open longer than in most states and leaves the Senate seat unresolved.
Matthews already ruled in June that Dan J. Sullivan could remain on the ballot. President Trump has argued that votes cast for that candidate should be assigned to the sitting senator instead.
The Justice Department earlier sued to block certification if Sen. Sullivan lost, citing voter confusion over the shared name. A federal judge dismissed that case.
Coverage of the second Dan Sullivan ballot plan has kept attention on how the name collision landed on the ballot in the first place.
Sen. Sullivan's campaign sued to stop Peltola from obtaining the VREM records. It accused her of “once again attempting to rig the system in her favor.”
"once again attempting to rig the system in her favor."
A New York Times report had alleged that the spoiler candidate sharing the incumbent's name had ties to Peltola's campaign. Peltola and her team denied those accusations.
Republicans have also pressed claims of a wider scheme to plant a decoy Sullivan on the Alaska ballot, keeping the same-name dispute alive well after Election Day.
Peltola's campaign told the court it could not “ensure that its voters’ lawful votes were properly counted without knowing whose absentee ballots were rejected or questioned, and why.”
"ensure that its voters’ lawful votes were properly counted without knowing whose absentee ballots were rejected or questioned, and why."
Matthews rejected that framing for the peak counting period. He held the request failed the reasonableness test while the Division of Elections is buried in ballot work.
Democrats who spent years warning about threats to democracy have had little to say about the Alaska same-name ballot tactics that helped scramble this race.
The records fight lands on top of a brutal campaign stretch for the Democratic nominee. Voters have already seen waves of negative coverage about her tenure and conduct in office.
Separate reporting has detailed how former staffers allege serious workplace misconduct, adding pressure as the ballot count drags on.
Further accounts from nine former aides have piled on with claims of abuse and outbursts, leaving Peltola to defend both her past and her late procedural moves in court.
Matthews drew a bright line. Election workers finish the count first. Campaigns do not get to pull custom database reports in the middle of that work simply because they want them.
The ruling leaves the rejected-ballot list closed for now. Alaska will keep processing what arrives under the 15-day window, and the Senate result will turn on the tallies already underway, not on a fresh data dump ordered by one campaign.
When a candidate loses a records fight this late, the public is right to ask whether the goal was transparency or a last look at the machinery for advantage. Courts exist to shut that door when the ask is unreasonable.
