Alaska election official rules Senate candidate with same name as Sullivan is ineligible on ballot

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An Alaskan election official determined Monday that a candidate with the same name as incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) is ineligible to appear on the ballot.

“On review of the complaints and other information in the Division’s possession, I conclude that your declaration of candidacy was not properly filed with the Division because it was not filed in order to declare an actual good-faith candidacy for the office of United States Senator, but was instead filed with a purpose to confuse or mislead and to thereby compromise the ballot’s fairness or neutrality,” Carol Beecher, director of the Governor’s Division of Elections, wrote in a Monday letter to the candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee urged state officials to investigate similarities to the incumbent Sullivan’s campaign in a 25-page letter to Beecher sent earlier this month.

Beecher said her investigation found concerns with the new candidate’s recent switch to the Republican Party, his campaign website’s similarity to the incumbent senator and his ties to a political consultant associated with a Democratic challenger to the senator as reasons to deny his candidacy.

“A declaration of candidacy filed for the purpose of confusing or misleading voters and compromising the fairness of the ballot is not properly filed as required by Alaska Statute 15.25.060,” Beecher wrote.

“As such, I am unable to maintain your declaration of candidacy and I am de-certifying your candidacy for United States Senator,” she added.

The disqualified candidate has 30 days to appeal the decision with the Alaska Superior Court; however, ballots will be printed on June 28.

Some Alaskans have raised concern with the decision to strike the candidate Dan Sullivan from the ballot and gathered outside the Division of Elections in Juneau to protest the decision, according to The Associated Press.

Local news outlets also reported that Sen. Dan Sullivan is registered to vote under Daniel Scott Sullivan.

The disqualified candidate previously said that sharing the same name with the incumbent lawmaker was a “matter of fate,” per AP.

Last week, he said efforts to strike his candidacy “create the impression that the state government is being used to protect an incumbent senator from facing competition at the ballot box.”

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