The Alaska Supreme Court issued a ruling Saturday that will keep the number of candidates to three in the August special election for Alaska’s only seat in the U.S. House.
In an expedited decision, the four presiding chief justices upheld a lower court ruling that the Alaska Division of Elections acted correctly by excluding candidate Tara Sweeney from the ballot in the special general election, which is Aug. 16.
The candidates whose names will appear on the special general election ballot are: Nick Begich III, Sarah Palin and Mary Peltola.
Sweeney’s campaign issued a statement Saturday night that said while she is disappointed by the outcome, Sweeney respects the state Supreme Court decision in the special election to finish the late Congressman Don Young’s term. Young, 88, died in March.
But Sweeney does plan to continue running in the regular election for the next term of the same contested House seat.
That primary election also falls on Aug. 16.
“I hoped to offer voters another choice in filling out the remainder of Congressman Young’s term,” Sweeney said Saturday night.
“Concerning the regular election for the next two-year term, I am staying in the race,” Sweeney added. “Alaska politics has a history of comeback stories, and I look forward to writing the next chapter by fighting to represent Alaska.”
At issue was the withdrawal from the election of candidate Al Gross, who was among the top four vote-getters in the special primary to finish the final months of Young’s term in 2022.
Under Alaska’s new ranked choice voting system, the top four in a nonpartisan primary move on to the general election, where voters rank their choices in order of preference.
Alaska Elections Division Director Gail Fenumiai had determined that Sweeney, the fifth-place finisher, could not advance to the general election after Gross dropped out.
Fenumiai said that Gross had quit the race 57 days before the general election, when state law requires at least 64 days for the next top vote-getter to advance.
Lawyers representing three Alaska voters disagreed and filed a lawsuit in Anchorage Superior Court asserting the elections division director erred in her application of the law.
Judge William Morse ruled in favor of the Alaska Division of Elections last week.
Attorneys representing the three Alaska voters then filed an emergency appeal before the Alaska Supreme Court.
Chief Justice Daniel Winfree, along with Justices Peter Maassen, Susan Carney and Jennifer Henderson, supported the lower court ruling. A full opinion will follow soon.
Attorneys for Fenumiai and Lt. Gov. Keven Meyer, who were named as defendants in the case, argued that “the statutory deadline here is neither ambiguous nor impossible to comply with. The Division would have substituted the fifth-place candidate for Dr. Gross if he had withdrawn before Monday, June 13, 64 days before the August 16 special general election.”
The lawyers for the defendants further stated that the Elections Division did not change or violate any “statutory deadline,” as implied by the plaintiffs “to support their theory that no deadlines apply to special elections.”
