Judge weighs lawsuit brought by Peltola campaign over absentee ballots in Alaska's US Senate race
The campaign of Alaska Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola is seeking a list of absentee voters whose ballots have been rejected in one of the most closely watched races of the midterm elections.
A state judge in Alaska heard arguments on Tuesday regarding a lawsuit filed by Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola's campaign. The lawsuit seeks a list of absentee voters whose ballots have been rejected in the highly contested race. Peltola's campaign also wants to know the reasons for the rejections to ensure that all qualified voters have their ballots counted.
The state's attorneys argue that the information requested would violate voter privacy laws. The lawsuit was filed three days after the ranked choice election between Peltola and Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. Absentee, early in-person, and other ballots are still being tallied. Peltola's attorney, Abha Khanna, said the campaign is not trying to disrupt the ongoing ballot counting process and has seen no cause for concern.
However, Khanna argued that the requested information is a matter of public record and should be more readily accessible to campaigns. The state says the information is confidential and not public records because it contains sensitive voter data. The judge is expected to issue a decision within a day of the hearing.
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