NAFO BONKER for the LIGHT SIDE

BREAKING Alaska’s Republican led government is tearing into the election lawsuit Trump personally directed his Justice Department to bring, calling the case “meritless” and the administration’s plan to segregate ballots “disturbing and impossible.” The state’s lawyers also call that proposal a “half-baked idea.” The lawsuit seeks to block certification of Alaska’s Senate election if Republican Senator Dan Sullivan loses and votes cast for another candidate with a similar name, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., could have changed the outcome. Trump has publicly acknowledged directing the lawsuit. Alaska’s lawyers say the administration has no legal basis for this intervention. DOJ is relying on the National Voter Registration Act, but the dispute has nothing to do with voter registration. The state says DOJ cannot cite a single court case, or even a law review article, supporting its interpretation. They also explain why the proposed ballot intervention makes no sense: separating ballots cannot reveal why someone voted for a particular candidate. Matching voters to their ballots to question their intentions would run into the fundamental protection of a secret ballot. The state warns that discarding votes or reassigning them differently from how voters marked them would be more likely to violate voters’ constitutional rights than protect them. Alaska is asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice so it can count votes and certify the election without “unwarranted federal interference.” (Link to the filing below)