Alaska Elections Director Removes One Dan Sullivan from Senate Ballot

Alaska’s elections director decided to remove Dan J. Sullivan from the U.S. Senate ballot, limiting the candidates to one Dan Sullivan. This decision, made on Monday, is subject to appeal in a state court.

Dan J. Sullivan, a Republican contender who shares his name with the incumbent Senator Dan S. Sullivan, has been deemed ineligible by the state’s election officials. Concerns arose among Republicans that Democrats might confuse voters by supporting a candidate with the same name, potentially harming the incumbent senator’s chances and aiding Mary Peltola, the Democratic candidate.

Both Mary Peltola and Dan J. Sullivan, a former teacher, have denied any collusion. He has defended his candidacy as a genuine effort. However, Republican officials overseeing elections disagreed. Lt. Gov Nancy Dahlstrom initiated an investigation into his candidacy last week. On Wednesday, Carol Beecher, the state elections director, indicated she would likely remove him from the ballot unless convincing evidence of his candidacy’s authenticity was presented.

On Monday, Ms. Beecher stated no such evidence had been provided. She wrote, “A declaration of candidacy filed for the purpose of confusing or misleading voters and compromising the fairness of the ballot is not properly filed.” Consequently, she de-certified his candidacy for United States Senator.

Ms. Beecher’s decision was supported by several pieces of evidence. She pointed out that Dan J. Sullivan’s attempt to be listed simply as “Dan Sullivan” rather than his full registered name, “Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr.,” appeared to aim at confusing voters. She also highlighted an instance where he seemed confused, emailing the Division requesting to be listed as “Dan S. Sullivan,” mistakenly using the incumbent’s middle initial.