Courts
RSSCourts in Alaska is the network of state and federal judicial bodies that decide cases affecting the state. It spans the Alaska Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Superior and District Courts, the Judicial Council and federal courts, covering lawsuits, sentencings and judicial retention votes.
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Judge rules Alaska needn't show Peltola's campaign rejected absentee ballots mid-count
An Anchorage judge ruled Wednesday that Alaska's Division of Elections doesn't have to tell Mary Peltola's U.S. Senate campaign which voters' absentee ballots are being rejected while officials are still counting.
Superior Court Judge Thomas A. Matthews ruled for the state without a trial, ending the campaign's public-records case in his court unless the campaign asks him to reconsider or appeals. The count is still underway. Peltola led Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan by 3,975 votes in Wednesday's update.
The campaign, Alaskans for Mary, sued Nov. 6. By Tuesday's hearing it had narrowed its request to voters' names and the codes showing whether each absentee ballot was accepted or rejected. The state already gives a list of absentee voters' names to anyone who asks, twice a week, but without those codes.
Matthews first ruled that the daily reports election workers use while reviewing absentee ballots aren't public records. Workers use them as a checklist, and observers get a shortened copy after signing a confidentiality agreement. The reports are outdated almost as soon as they're printed and are thrown away at the end of each day, so they aren't kept for their value as records, he wrote.
He also ruled that the state's voter database does hold public records. He rejected the state's argument that no rejection records existed yet because decisions aren't final. "Simply because there is no final decision on acceptance or rejection does not mean the Division is off the hook," he wrote.
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Latest
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About Courts
Courts in Alaska take in the state and federal judicial bodies that decide cases arising in the state. The state system runs from the District and Superior Courts through the Court of Appeals to the Alaska Supreme Court, and federal cases go to the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Judges hear criminal prosecutions and sentencings, civil lawsuits, divorce and custody disputes, and appeals of state agency decisions. Recurring questions include election and voting disputes, the rights of people under arrest, taxes, and fights over land and resources.
The Alaska Judicial Council evaluates judges, who face retention votes. Court rulings connect to crime and public safety, elections and government, as they shape how laws are applied and how state agencies work.
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