{
  "id": 19704657,
  "title": "Alaska judge rules a request by Peltola campaign for ballot data in Senate race is 'not reasonable'",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/12/alaska-judge-rules-a-request-by-peltola-campaign-for-ballot-data-in",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-12T20:24:30.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "PBS NewsHour",
    "slug": "pbs-newshour",
    "url": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/alaska-judge-rules-a-request-by-peltola-campaign-for-ballot-data-in-senate-race-is-not-reasonable"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "An Alaska judge has ruled that Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola's campaign request for a list of absentee voters with rejected ballots is not reasonable. This ruling comes as election officials are still counting ballots from the recent ranked vote election, in which Peltola and Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan are the main contenders. Alaska's Senate race is still considered too early to call. The state accepts absentee ballots up to 15 days after the general election, with Nov. 18 being the deadline for submission. Peltola's campaign sued state elections officials last Friday, seeking a list of voters whose absentee ballots have been rejected along with the reasons for the rejections, aiming to ensure all qualified voters have their ballots counted. However, the state argued that providing such information would violate voter privacy and producing a list from a voter database would be classified as an electronic service or product that may not take priority over the agency's main responsibilities of administering elections. Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews stated that the records in question could potentially be redacted and released, but the division is not required to disclose them as they cannot be reasonably produced and redacted at this point, and they also contain confidential information. The judge noted that the timing of the campaign's request was particularly unfortunate, as election officials are already working long hours to meet deadlines and ensure the fundamental responsibility of administering elections.",
  "summary": "An Alaska judge ruled Wednesday that a request by Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola's campaign for a list of absentee voters whose ballots have been rejected is \"not reasonable,\" particularly given the time crunch election officials face as they continue counting ballots from last week's election.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Middle East Eye",
        "title": "X suspends campaign account of Palestinian American running for US Senate",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/12/x-suspends-campaign-account-of-palestinian-american-running-for-us-19692042",
        "published": "2026-11-12T18:58:17.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}