An Alaska judge ruled Wednesday against Mary Peltola’s campaign in its effort to access records on rejected absentee ballots. Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews sided with state election officials who are still counting votes for the Senate race. The court found the request was “simply not reasonable” while officials work to finish the count.
Peltola currently holds a narrow lead over Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan. The campaign sought a list of rejected ballots and the specific reasons for those rejections. They argued this data would ensure all valid votes are counted. State attorneys argued the records are not public and contain private voter information.
Judge Matthews explained that the state’s elections division is swamped with work right now. He noted the agency is “currently busy processing ballots from the 2026 general election.” The judge wrote that the division “simply lacks the capacity to generate the report” from the voter database, according to Fox News. He added that “the timing of the Campaign’s request could simply not be worse.”
The ruling came as officials aim to finish counting by November 18. This is the target date for tabulating votes if no one wins a majority. Matthews stated the division is working long hours to meet these active deadlines. He wrote, “The Division asserts its staff is actively working long hours to accomplish its fundamental responsibility — administering elections.”
State lawyers argued that releasing the data would violate voter privacy. Assistant Attorney General Margaret Paton-Walsh said voters do not want to be publicly exposed for mistakes. The court agreed that producing a custom report would be too much of a burden during this busy time.
The vote count is tight with roughly 86% of expected ballots tallied. Peltola has 121,487 first-choice votes, which is 48.9% of the total. Sullivan holds 117,512 votes, or 47.3% of the count. This leaves Peltola with a lead of 3,975 votes.
Neither candidate has reached the 50% threshold needed to win outright. The race will likely move to ranked-choice tabulation after November 18. Certification of the final results is expected by November 25. Other candidates still hold enough votes to change the outcome.
Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. has 4,100 votes in the count. Gerald Heikes has 5,426 votes. The margin separating the top two candidates is less than the combined totals of the third and fourth place finishers. Their votes could prove decisive when the final count is done.
The Sullivan campaign was allowed to intervene in the legal case. They supported the state’s position that the records are not public. The judge clarified that the case was “not about who won or lost the election.” It was strictly about access to public records under state law.
Peltola’s attorney Abha Khanna had told the court the counting process was “going incredibly smoothly.” She argued the campaign was not trying to disrupt the vote count. However, the judge ruled the request was not required right now. The division is focused on finishing the count before any new data requests.
