Alaska Judge Denies Peltola Campaign's Request for Rejected Absentee Ballot Records

An Alaska Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday that the campaign of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola cannot obtain a list of absentee voters whose ballots were rejected, calling the request not reasonable while ballot counting continues. In a 17-page decision, Judge Thomas Matthews said the Division of Elections is working under active deadlines and that the campaign's timing could hardly have been worse. Peltola's attorneys sued last Friday, saying they wanted all qualified voters' ballots counted. State attorneys argued that disclosure would violate voter privacy and that generating the list would be an electronic product that cannot take priority over the division's core duties. Matthews also found that two versions of a report given to election observers are not public records because they hold confidential, preliminary information. Peltola faces Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan in the last uncalled Senate race, decided by ranked vote. Overseas ballots are accepted through Nov. 18, also the target date for ranked tabulation if no candidate tops 50%. As of Thursday, the AP count showed Peltola with 121,487 votes to Sullivan's 117,512.

Left-leaning outlets HuffPost, running AP copy, and The Washington Post lead with the ruling itself. HuffPost's headline uses the judge's not-reasonable finding and stresses the state's privacy argument, the Nov. 18 deadline and the campaign's stated aim of counting every qualified ballot; the Post's excerpt calls the race tight. Right-leaning Fox News and The Daily Signal pair the court loss with Peltola's narrow lead. The Signal gives the vote totals and a 1.6-point margin, while Fox adds that she lost some of her lead in Wednesday night's ballot drop, features Gov. Mike Dunleavy, quotes campaign attorney Abha Kelly, and links a report on alleged spoiler candidates. Both sides agree on the ruling and its reasoning; they differ in whether it is framed as an administrative ruling or as part of a political fight. ZeroHedge largely tracks the ruling, adding detail on the report's confidentiality.