The Alaska Supreme Court on Saturday upheld a lower court ruling that will keep Republican Tara Sweeney off the ballot for the August special election in Alaska’s U.S. House race.
In a brief written order, the high court on an appeal affirmed the decision of Superior Court Judge William Morse, who agreed on Friday with a decision by Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai to not advance Sweeney, the fifth-place finisher in the June 11 primary, to the special election ballot after the third-place finisher suddenly dropped out.
The outcome is that three candidates’ names will appear on the Aug. 16 election ballot to fill out the remaining months of the late Rep. Don Young’s term, although state law allows for the top four primary finishers to advance.
The Supreme Court did not elaborate on its reasoning but said a full opinion will follow at a later date.
Forty-eight candidates ran in the special primary for Alaska’s House seat, which was left vacant by Young’s death in March. He had held the seat for 49 years.
The special primary was the first election held under a system approved by Alaska voters that ends party primaries and institutes ranked-choice voting in general elections.
In the June 11 primary election, the top four vote-getters due to advance to the Aug. 16 special election were former governor Sarah Palin (27.01%) and Nick Begich (19.12%), both Republicans; independent Al Gross (12.63%); and Democrat Mary Peltola (10.08%), a former Bethel state legislator. That changed when Gross abruptly withdrew June 21. He has not provided an explanation of his decision.
Fenumiai had said that because Gross withdrew less than 64 days before the scheduled special election, state law did not permit the division to move up the fifth-place candidate to fill out the fourth slot on the ballot.
Last Thursday, three voters sued to have Sweeney put on the ballot, claiming elections officials misinterpreted the law and that the timeline to withdraw did not apply to special elections.
Sweeney did not sue to challenge the Elections Division decision to run with just three names on the ballot. “We made the decision that this is not a candidate fight,” her campaign manager, Karina Waller, said in an interview. “This is on the ranked-choice voting procedures that the voters approved, and ... this is not our fight.”
Sweeney served as an assistant secretary of Indian Affairs in the U.S. Interior Department during the Trump administration. She also was previously an executive with Arctic Slope Regional Corp.
The ballots will be printed without Gross’ name, Fenumiai said.
“The law was clear, and I’m pleased the courts affirmed such. Now, it’s time to take our campaign to the voters in the general election and earn their support,” Begich said in an email to the AP.
Messages sent to the campaigns of Sweeney, Palin and Peltola were not immediately returned.
Attorneys for the state said in court filings that while the division was “sympathetic to the public expectation” that under the new system four candidates would advance, “it lacks the discretion to relax an unambiguous statutory deadline to effectuate this goal.”
Morse in his written order said the timeline for substitutions on the ballot “could hardly be briefer.” But, “that is the period set by statute and the one the division must apply.”
Separate from the special election to fill out the remainder of Young’s term, voters will cast ballots in the regular statewide primary Aug. 16 and general election Nov. 8 to select a winner to serve the two-year term in the U.S. House that starts in January.
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