Alaska judge blocks Peltola bid for rejected absentee ballot records
What's next: With about 86% of expected votes counted, the Senate race still appears headed to ranked-choice tabulation.
An Alaska judge rejected Democratic candidate Mary Peltola’s request for records identifying absentee ballots flagged for rejection in the state’s unresolved U.S. Senate race. Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews ruled the Division of Elections lacks the capacity to generate the report while it is still processing ballots and said the timing of the request could not be worse. Peltola’s campaign had argued it wanted the list and reasons for rejection to help ensure qualified votes were counted. State lawyers argued the records include confidential voter information and are not public. With roughly 248,000 ballots tallied, Peltola held 121,487 first-choice votes, or 48.9%, to Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan’s 117,512, or 47.3%.