Alaska Judge Denies Peltola Campaign Request for Rejected Absentee Ballot List as Count Continues

An Alaska Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday against a request by Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola's campaign for a list of voters whose absentee ballots were rejected, calling it unreasonable given the time pressure on election officials still counting ballots. Judge Thomas Matthews issued the written ruling. The campaign sued state elections officials last Friday, saying it wanted to ensure all qualified voters have their ballots counted. State attorneys argued that releasing the information would violate voter privacy and that producing such a list from a voter database would be an "electronic service or product" that state law says cannot take priority over an agency's main duties.

Peltola and Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, a two-term incumbent, are the main contenders in the ranked vote race, the last Senate contest in the country not yet called. As of Thursday, Peltola had 121,487 votes to Sullivan's 117,512, a lead of 1.6 percentage points, according to The Associated Press. Overseas ballots are accepted up to 15 days after the election, making Nov. 18 the final day to receive them. That is also the Division of Elections' target for ranked vote tabulations if no candidate tops 50% of first-choice votes.

The Daily Signal (right) opens with the judge rejecting Peltola's bid, putting the court loss in its headline next to her "narrow" lead, then gives the AP vote totals and percentage margin. HuffPost (left) carries the AP report and leads with the judge calling the request unreasonable. It adds the Nov. 18 deadline, the state's privacy and electronic-product arguments, and the campaign's stated aim of counting every qualified ballot, and its excerpt gives no vote totals. Both agree on the ruling and that the race is uncalled; they differ in emphasis, with the right on the tally and the left on the legal reasoning and timeline. The Hill (alternative) is distinct, covering only the count: Peltola gained about 5,000 votes Thursday and led by 5,800, passing Sullivan in a ranked-choice calculation.