Alaska Judge Denies Peltola Campaign’s Request For Ballot Data

An Alaska judge ruled against Democrat Mary Peltola. The court denied her campaign’s request to see records of rejected absentee ballots. Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews sided with state election officials during this tight race. He found the demand was “simply not reasonable” while votes are still being counted.

Peltola’s team sued last week to get a list of rejected ballots and the reasons for them. They argued this would help ensure valid votes are counted. However, the state said these records are not public and involve voter privacy. Fox News reported that Judge Matthews agreed with the Division of Elections. The agency is “currently busy processing ballots from the 2026 general election” and “simply lacks the capacity to generate the report” from the voter registration database.

Why the Court Said No

Judge Matthews wrote that the election division has active deadlines to meet. Nov. 18 is the target date for finishing the count and doing ranked-choice tabulations. “The Division is actively in the middle of counting ballots. It has active deadlines it must meet,” Matthews wrote. He added that the campaign’s request could not come at a worse time. The state argued that making a custom report would burden staff working long hours.

State attorneys told the court that voters have a right to privacy. Margaret Paton-Walsh, an Assistant Attorney General, said people voting absentee do not want to be publicly exposed for mistakes. The court noted the data is “ephemeral working documents that are not meant for preservation.” Peltola’s lawyer, Abha Kelly, had argued the process was going smoothly and they were not seeking confidential data. She claimed the request would just make existing transparency more central.

The Race Numbers Stand

Despite the legal loss, Peltola still holds a narrow lead over Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. Fox News reported that with about 86% of votes counted, Peltola has 121,487 first-choice votes. That is 48.9% of the total. Sullivan has 117,512 votes, or 47.3%. This leaves Peltola ahead by 3,975 votes. The Washington Examiner noted the lead was 4,250 votes as of Wednesday evening. Neither candidate has reached 50%, so the race heads toward ranked-choice tabulation.

Other candidates in the race could still decide the winner. Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. has 4,100 votes, while Gerald Heikes has 5,426. Those totals for third and fourth place are higher than the current gap between the top two. This means votes from these candidates will likely shift during the final count. The race remains frozen until the absentee counting ends around Nov. 18.

Privacy and Public Records

Judge Matthews clarified that this case was “not about who won or lost the election.” It was strictly about access to public records under the Public Records Act. The Sullivan campaign was allowed to intervene in the lawsuit. Washington Examiner reported that the decision comes amid scrutiny over a separate issue involving a second Dan Sullivan. Peltola’s former manager told the New York Times about efforts to recruit a candidate with the same name.

The court ruled that the timing of the request “could simply not be worse.” Even if the request seemed reasonable at another time, it is not now. The Division of Elections asserts its staff is working long hours to handle their main job. This job is administering the election fairly and on time. The judge’s order stops the campaign from forcing the release of data right now.