Judge Rules Namesake Challenger Can Stay on Alaska Senate Primary Ballot

Article excerpt

A judge has ruled that a man named Dan Sullivan can remain on Alaska's Republican primary ballot, setting up a genuine ballot-confusion situation for incumbent U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan. The sitting senator had sought to have his namesake removed, arguing that sharing an identical name would mislead voters during the primary. The judge disagreed and kept the challenger on. It is a genuinely strange predicament: two men with the same name competing in the same race, with voters expected to sort out which Dan Sullivan is the two-term senator they may or may not want to keep. Alaska already uses a ranked-choice voting system that tends to complicate ballots, and adding an identical name into the mix gives election administrators a particular headache. The incumbent's concern is less about losing his seat than about the kind of accidental vote-splitting that could scramble results in unpredictable ways. For now, both Dan Sullivans are in the race.