Both Republican Dan Sullivans can compete in Alaska primary, court rules

A man with the same name and party affiliation as Senator Dan Sullivan, a Republican, is qualified to run for the seat and ordered election officials to place him on Alaska’s primary ballot in August, the state supreme court ruled Monday. The ruling came hours after arguments on Monday and just days after state court Judge Thomas Matthews found the division of elections had “abused its discretion” in booting the challenger Sullivan from the ballot. The supreme court, in a brief ruling, affirmed Matthews’ decision but sent back to the division the issue of how the challenger should be listed on the ballot, “within the confines of existing Alaska ballot design law”. The Alaska supreme court’s decision likely brings to a close a bizarre saga that has enveloped the state’s closely fought Senate election. Republicans argued that the 70-year-old challenger Dan Sullivan only filed his candidacy as an interference tactic against Senator Sullivan, with the party moving to block him from running. The supreme court’s order was only around a paragraph long. In addition to affirming Sullivan’s candidacy, it directed the division of elections to determine how Sullivan’s name should be listed “within the confines of existing Alaska ballot design law”. The court declared a full opinion would be issued at a later date. …