In a notable turn of events, Alaska’s closely contested Senate race has shifted dramatically. Democrat Mary Peltola encountered a courtroom defeat, coinciding with a decrease in her narrow lead over Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan following recent ballot counts.
This development occurs as Alaska’s Senate contest remains the last undecided race in the nation. Thousands of ballots are still pending processing, and the state’s contentious ranked-choice voting system could be crucial in determining the final results.
The court ruling, delivered by Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews, dismissed Peltola’s request for detailed records regarding rejected absentee ballots. The judge sided with state election officials, emphasizing that fulfilling this request could disrupt their ongoing duties.
Judge Matthews deemed the demand “simply not reasonable” while election workers were heavily engaged in processing the remaining ballots from the midterm elections held on November 3.
The judge highlighted the extensive workload of the Alaska Division of Elections, which is still managing the aftermath of the recent election.
The agency is “currently busy processing ballots from the 2026 general election” and “simply lacks the capacity to generate the report” that Peltola’s campaign sought, Matthews asserted.
He pointed out that “the timing of the Campaign’s request could simply not be worse.”
Peltola’s team filed the lawsuit last week, aiming for transparency and insights into the handling of disputed ballots by election officials.
Peltola ballot records ruling
A judge ruled Alaska needn’t tell Peltola’s campaign which absentee ballots are being rejected mid-count. The timing “could simply not be worse,” he wrote.
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Her legal representatives contended that the information would enhance transparency, allowing the campaign to comprehend how election officials assessed rejected ballots.
Attorney Abha Kelly for the campaign argued that the counting process was “going incredibly smoothly” and clarified that the request did not aim to disrupt election operations.
She further noted that the campaign intended to consolidate information already accessible to election observers instead of obtaining private voter data.
However, state attorneys countered, citing privacy issues and the potential burden of generating a specialized report during an active ballot count.
“Voters have a privacy interest in that because people who want to vote absentee presumably don’t want to mess it up and don’t want to be publicly exposed as having messed that up,” argued Assistant Attorney General Margaret Paton-Walsh.
Ultimately, Matthews leaned toward the state’s argument, clarifying that the issue was about access to election records, not the legitimacy of election outcomes.
During the hearing, the judge clarified that the case did not revolve around determining the winner of the election.
Dan Sullivan’s campaign was allowed to join the legal discussions, granting him involvement in the matter concerning the requested records.
In the latest ballot updates, Peltola faced another significant setback. With around 86% of expected ballots counted and over 248,000 tallied, Peltola received 121,487 first-choice votes, accounting for 48.9% of the total.
Sullivan followed closely behind with 117,512 votes, representing 47.3%.
Peltola now leads by a mere 3,975 votes, a margin that has tightened as more ballots were counted.
As neither candidate has achieved an outright majority, the race remains set for a subsequent round of tabulation under Alaska’s ranked-choice system.
This indicates that the dynamics of the contest could shift even further, given that two additional candidates are still on the ballot.
Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. has garnered 4,100 first-choice votes, while Gerald Heikes has collected 5,426 votes, collectively attracting more than double the votes that separate Peltola and Sullivan.
Alaska’s ranked-choice voting allows voters to rank candidates by preference. If no candidate secures a majority of first-choice votes, the least popular candidates are eliminated, and their votes are redistributed based on voters’ next preferences.
This mechanism raises the potential for Sullivan to surpass Peltola’s lead, depending on the preferences of supporters for the other candidates.
Nonetheless, the final result remains unclear until all absentee ballots are processed and ranked-choice counting is underway.
The election season also faced claims surrounding an alleged scheme to recruit spoiler candidates, with some scrutiny directed at Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. due to the similarity of names.
Peltola has denied any knowledge of the purported scheme, while Sullivan has publicly challenged her statements.
These allegations are distinct from Wednesday’s court ruling, which solely focused on the campaign’s request for election records rather than any electoral misconduct claims.
Meanwhile, Alaska voters are contemplating a potential repeal of ranked-choice voting. A ballot measure for its elimination was trailing at 52.5% to 47.5% as counting progressed, leaving crucial election questions unanswered.
The Election Division anticipates continuing the processing of absentee ballots until approximately November 18, with certification scheduled for November 25.
