Candidate with similar name to incumbent barred from election

Alaska (AP): A top Alaska elections official on Monday ruled that a US Senate

candidate with the same name and party affiliation as Republican incumbent Dan

Sullivan is ineligible to appear on the state’s August primary ballot.

Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher, in a letter sent to the challenger

Sullivan, said she concluded that his declaration of candidacy “was not filed in order

to declare an actual good-faith candidacy for the office of United States Senator, but

was instead filed with a purpose to confuse or mislead and to thereby compromise

the ballot’s fairness or neutrality”. The challenger can appeal the ruling, she said,

while noting ballots are due to be printed June 28. A text message seeking comment

from the challenger, was not immediately returned. He previously said he

anticipated making a decision on whether to pursue an appeal by early this week.

In a social media post on Sunday, he said he “met the qualification and I entered

this race because I am unhappy with the 12 year record of the current Senator and I

feel we need a change. It’s that simple”.

It’s been a whirlwind chain of events in one of the nation’s most prominent US

Senate races, one both parties consider crucial to controlling the chamber.

The kerfuffle was set off by the challenger Sullivan filing days before the June 1

candidate deadline. Senator Sullivan and Republicans called him a “sham” candidate

and alleged he was working with Democrats to boost Democratic former US

Representative Mary Peltola’s chances in the race. Both the challenger Sullivan and

Peltola’s campaign have denied the allegation.

A week ago, Republican Lieutenant Governor Nancy Dahlstrom announced an

investigation into the challenger Sullivan’s run, citing “credible allegations” that he

declared his candidacy “in coordination with another candidate and campaign” with

an intent to confuse and “manipulate” voters.

Sullivan, a retired teacher from the small, southeast Alaska fishing community of

Petersburg, has said he’s done nothing wrong and insisted that Dahlstrom lacks a

legal basis to exclude him from the ballot. He said in a recent interview that he has

been weighing a run for years and called sharing a name with Sullivan a “matter of

fate”.

“The lieutenant governor’s job is to oversee elections fairly and impartially,” he said

in a statement last week. “Instead, her actions create the impression that the state

government is being used to protect an incumbent senator from facing competition

at the ballot box.” Senator Sullivan's campaign manager, Billy Mackey, lauded the

decision by the lieutenant governor, who oversees elections in Alaska, for upholding

the right to “a free and fair election”.

Senator Sullivan, who is seeking a third term, and Peltola are the highest-profile

candidates in the crowded race and the only ones so far to report raising any

money.

Democrats have targeted the seat in their push to regain the majority in the

chamber.

Last Friday, protesters gathered outside the Division of Elections office in Juneau,

opposing efforts to remove the challenger Sullivan from the ballot. Among them was

Ben Muse of Juneau. He said he felt the issue could have been addressed using

middle initials to distinguish between the candidates but had been “blown way out of

proportion”.

“This has nothing to do with whether you support this guy as a candidate,” he said.

“It’s supporting his right to be on the ballot.”