Leading by 637, Peltola Sues Alaska for Names of Rejected Absentee Voters.

Mary Peltola leads Sen. Dan S. Sullivan by 637 first-choice votes. On Friday her campaign sued Alaska’s elections chiefs for the names of voters whose absentee ballots have been rejected — and the codes showing why.

The plaintiff is Alaskans for Mary. The defendants are Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher, and the Division itself. The seven-page complaint, filed in Anchorage Superior Court and dated Nov. 6, asks for declaratory and injunctive relief under the Alaska Public Records Act.

What the complaint demands

The campaign wants “a copy of the Absentee Register showing the accept or reject code for each absentee ballot returned for the 2026 General Election, or any other documents sufficient to show the identities of voters whose absentee ballots for the 2026 General Election have been rejected as well as the reasons for each rejection.”

Counsel of record include Abha Khanna, Jacob Shelly, and Desiree Pelletier of Elias Law Group LLP, alongside Reeves Amodio LLC in Anchorage. The same Elias firm has been at the center of the Decoy Dan fight — the ballot-composition project that put a second Dan Sullivan on Alaska’s Senate ballot.

The campaign’s Oct. 27 regional records requests went unanswered, the complaint says. A Nov. 5 demand letter set a 4 p.m. deadline and warned that silence would be treated as constructive denial. On a Nov. 5 conferral call, state counsel declined to produce the register immediately. The suit followed the next day.

The numbers still on the board

Unofficial first-choice totals tracked from the Division of Elections put Peltola at 102,962 (48.2%) and Sullivan at 102,325 (47.9%) — a 637-vote gap. Gerald Heikes holds 4,846. Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., the “Decoy Dan,” holds 3,600. Neither top candidate has a majority. Ranked-choice tabulation is scheduled for Nov. 18 after overseas and remaining absentee ballots arrive.

Absentee and questioned counting continues through mid-November. District boards certify by Nov. 18. State certification is targeted for Nov. 25. Every rejected ballot in a 637-vote race matters — which is exactly why the campaign wants the names now, not after the race is certified.

Alaska’s answer: the list stays sealed

Alaska’s Department of Law says the campaign is seeking “preliminary absentee ballot information that the Division of Elections has long treated as confidential and that Alaska law does not require the Division to release.”

Authorized observers may view certain daily records under confidentiality agreements, the department said. “Because the information is preliminary, subject to change, and not yet available to affected voters, the Division does not distribute the records separately or allow observers to retain them.” Releasing it the way the lawsuit demands, the state argues, “would create additional burdens during ballot processing and could delay the timely counting of votes.” The Division “has protected this information for years and will ask the court to protect it too.”

Alaska Beacon notes that under current practice the Division posts aggregate reject reasons after certification, and that rejected voters get letters weeks later — not a live named register while the count is still open.

The irony the filing walks into

Days earlier, in the federal Decoy Dan case, Alaskans for Mary told a judge that Alaskans’ “bedrock rights” include “the right to cast secret ballots.” Friday’s state-court complaint asks a different Anchorage judge to force production of a named list of rejected absentee voters mid-count.

The campaign’s public line is transparency: “The campaign is ensuring transparency, timeliness, and accuracy as the counting process continues and every Alaskan’s voice is heard.” The Division’s line is that preliminary reject codes are not a downloadable campaign tool.

Sullivan’s campaign did not immediately comment on the new suit. Separately, Sullivan’s team has already flagged spoiled overvotes in which voters marked both Dan Sullivans as first choice — at least 90 tossed ballots in early counts, with more expected — another concrete reminder that first-choice confusion is not theoretical in a race this tight.

What to watch: whether Anchorage Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews orders production before the Nov. 10/13/18 count windows; whether the Division keeps the Absentee Register sealed until after certification; and whether the 637-vote first-choice gap survives the remaining absentees — and the Decoy Dan transfers on Nov. 18.