Lawsuit Filed in Alaska State Court to Restore a Fourth Candidate to the Special General Election

According to this story, a lawsuit to force the Alaska Division of Elections to put four candidates on the August special general election, instead of three, has already been filed. The article indicates that the judge stated orally that he believes the Division of Elections is correct, and that only three candidates will appear.


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Lawsuit Filed in Alaska State Court to Restore a Fourth Candidate to the Special General Election — 4 Comments

  1. There is one section that says that special elections should be conducted in the same manner as general elections, unless explicitly different.

    One area that is explicitly different is timing of elections. For regular elections the primary and general are set in August and November with about 75 days in between. But special primary and special runoff are 60+ days apart, with the extra days to get the runoff on to a Tuesday.

    The deadline for withdrawal with replacement is explicit, and would not be possible following a special primary.

    The question for the court is whether it is more important to permit withdrawal and replacement after the primary in both regular and special elections. Or it was intentional to make it impossible by setting an arbitrary deadline.

    The elections division intends to modify the ballot by removing Gross’s name, and it would be just as easy to add Sweeny’s name.

    It may be that the Elections Division is reluctant to try to sort out contradictory laws. That may require a court basing its interpretation on constitutional guarantees (such as the right to vote).

  2. The superior court ruled in favor of the Election Divisions interpretation. The case has been appealed to the Alaska Supreme Court.

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