{"id":443,"date":"2026-06-18T18:06:42","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T18:06:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=443"},"modified":"2026-06-18T18:06:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T18:06:42","slug":"states-refusal-to-put-petersburg-sullivan-on-ballot-likely-not-legally-justified-attorney-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=443","title":{"rendered":"State\u2019s refusal to put Petersburg Sullivan on ballot \u2018likely not legally justified,\u2019 attorney says"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

An attorney advising the state Legislature says the Division of Elections likely lacked legal justification to block Dan. J. Sullivan of Petersburg from running in Alaska\u2019s U.S. Senate race.<\/p>\n

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The Division of Elections ruled Monday that Sullivan could not be on the ballot<\/u> because, as the Division director said, he did not file \u201cin good faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

That decision came after Sen. Dan Sullivan alleged the challenger\u2019s candidacy was a \u201cdirty trick\u201d by Democrats. His Republican allies filed official complaints, saying the Petersburg Sullivan, a retired teacher, was trying to confuse voters by using the same name and party affiliation as the incumbent.<\/p>\n

Andrew Dunmire, an attorney with the nonpartisan Legislative Affairs Agency, wrote a nearly five-page memo<\/u> on the controversy. The Petersburg Sullivan appears to meet the three qualifications the U.S. Constitution requires of senators, Dunmire said: He\u2019s over 30, a U.S. citizen for nine years or more, and a state resident.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo impose additional requirements on Mr. Sullivan \u2014 such as a requirement that he filed to run \u2018in good faith\u2019 \u2014 would improperly add to the exclusive list of Constitutional qualifications,\u201d Dunmore wrote.<\/p>\n

Democratic State Rep. Andrew Gray of Anchorage requested the memo and is holding an oversight hearing on the subject Monday. Gray said he doesn\u2019t know the Petersburg man and isn\u2019t taking a position on his motives.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat matters is, is he qualified to be on the ballot, and what authority does the division of elections have to take someone off the ballot if they meet the requirements?\u201d Gray said.<\/p>\n

Gray said he suspects the Division of Elections might not be acting as a neutral player. He cited a 2024 case, when the Division argued in court<\/u> that it had to let Eric Hafner, a federal inmate in New York, appear on the Alaska ballot as a Democrat. That was over the objections of the state Democratic Party, which claimed Hafner would not meet the residency requirement by Election Day due to his long prison sentence.<\/p>\n

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At the time, the Elections Division said it had no authority to question Hafner\u2019s stated intention of future residency.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn that case, he was allowed to stay on the ballot, and now we have a case, two years later, where there’s a candidate who potentially would take votes away from the Republican incumbent, and in that case, he’s removed from the ballot,\u201d Gray said. \u201cSo it appears that it’s inconsistent, and it appears that the inconsistency might have a partisan motivation behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher has declined Gray\u2019s invitation to speak at the hearing he\u2019s called. Beecher said she\u2019s got pressing deadlines to prepare for the upcoming elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe remain committed to transparency and cooperation and would welcome the opportunity to participate once the current election season has ended,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThank you for your understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dunmire said that while a candidate\u2019s name can\u2019t appear in a misleading way on the ballot, that doesn\u2019t mean the Petersburg Sullivan must be dropped entirely. Instead, Dunmire wrote, the Division of Elections could design the ballot in a way that allows voters to differentiate between the two.<\/p>\n

Petersburg Dan Sullivan has said his aim isn\u2019t to fool voters. He said he\u2019s dissatisfied with the namesake senator and wants to provide an alternative.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s read the Dunmire memo and agrees with it, he said by text Wednesday. He has not yet announced whether he will challenge the state\u2019s decision to take him off the ballot, but he said he has sought legal advice.<\/p>\n

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The Division of Elections can\u2019t add \u201cgood faith\u201d to the Constitution\u2019s list of U.S. Senate candidate qualifications, the Legislature\u2019s legal advisor says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nState\u2019s refusal to put Petersburg Sullivan on ballot \u2018likely not legally justified,\u2019 attorney says - Alaska Moving Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alaskamovingnetwork.com\/?p=443\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"State\u2019s refusal to put Petersburg Sullivan on ballot \u2018likely not legally justified,\u2019 attorney says - 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