Mary Peltola’s campaign has sued Alaska election officials to get records that show which absentee ballots have been rejected in the state’s close Senate race, and why each one was turned away.
The lawsuit was filed on Friday, November 6, in Alaska Superior Court in Anchorage by Alaskans for Mary, the campaign committee for Peltola, a Democrat and former member of the U.S. House. The defendants are the Alaska Division of Elections, Lieutenant Governor Nancy Dahlstrom and the division’s director, Carol Beecher. The case is Alaskans for Mary v. Dahlstrom. A case number was not given in the public reporting on the filing.
Peltola is running against Senator Dan Sullivan, the Republican who now holds the seat. The race has not been called. Peltola led by about 600 votes in the count reported late in the week, and Alaska is still receiving and counting ballots. The state will accept absentee ballots until November 18, when the ranked choice count is also expected.
The campaign says it asked each regional office of the Division of Elections on October 27 for the absentee register, the running record that shows whether each returned ballot is accepted or rejected, or for any other records that would show the names of voters whose ballots were rejected and the reasons. The campaign says it got no answer, asked again on November 4 with a deadline of November 5, and was told that day by the state’s lawyers that the records would not be handed over at once.
The complaint argues that the records are public under the Alaska Public Records Act and asks the court to say so and to order the state to produce them. The campaign also asked for a temporary restraining order, an early court order that would force the state to release the records right away, and for the case to be heard on a fast track.
The campaign says time matters because counting and certification are under way. “Plaintiff cannot ensure that its voters’ lawful votes were properly counted without knowing whose absentee ballots were rejected or questioned, and why,” the complaint says. The lawsuit does not claim that any specific ballot was wrongly rejected, and it does not ask the court to stop the count or change any vote totals, according to Alaska News reporting on the filing.
The state says no. The Alaska Department of Law, which represents the lieutenant governor and the Division of Elections, said in a statement on Friday that the division has long treated this information as confidential and that Alaska law does not require its release. The records are early working records, the department said, and they can change. Authorized observers may look at some of the daily records during the review process if they agree to keep them confidential, but the division does not hand out copies or let observers keep them, because the voters affected have not yet been told themselves.
Releasing the records in the way the campaign wants would add work during ballot processing and could slow the counting of votes, the department said. “The Division has protected this information for years and will ask the court to protect it too,” the statement said.
Senator Sullivan’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit, Reuters reported.
No hearing date or ruling on the request for an early order had been reported as of Saturday. The Division of Elections is set to release its next count on Tuesday, November 10.
Sources: Reuters, November 6, 2026; Alaska Division of Elections and Alaska Department of Law statement, November 6, 2026; Alaska News, November 7, 2026; complaint in Alaskans for Mary v. Dahlstrom, Alaska Superior Court, Anchorage, filed November 6, 2026, as reported by Democracy Docket and Alaska News.
