Alaska Judge Rejects Peltola Absentee-Ballot Records Request

An Alaska Superior Court judge rejected Mary Peltola’s campaign’s request for reports identifying rejected absentee ballots and explaining why they were rejected, ruling that election officials could not reasonably produce and redact the information while counting votes. The court also found that the campaign could not compel the state to create a new report during the count, and officials cited voter privacy concerns. Peltola’s campaign said it sought the information to help ensure eligible voters’ ballots were counted, while arguing that observers already had access to similar details. The dispute comes as Alaska’s closely watched U.S. Senate race between Peltola and Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan remains unresolved.