JUNEAU, Alaska — A man with the same name and party affiliation as Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan on Monday challenged a decision by a top state elections official to disqualify his candidacy and remove him from the August primary ballot.
A court filing by the challenger’s attorneys said the decision by Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher disqualifying him violates state and federal law. The filing asks that he be placed on the ballot.
The challenger, Dan Sullivan, a retired teacher from the small fishing community of Petersburg, has maintained that he is a qualified candidate for U.S. Senate and that election officials lacked a legal basis to remove him.
The U.S. Constitution lays out three exclusive qualifications for the Senate, addressing age, citizenship and residency, his attorneys wrote. “Nothing in Alaska law regulates in any way the private motivations that draw individuals to declare or campaign for office,” the filing by attorneys Jeffrey Robinson, Bryn Pallesen and Zoe Eisberg states.
The challenger is one of two Dan Sullivans who appeared on the June primary ballot. The incumbent Dan Sullivan is a Republican seeking reelection. The state disqualified the challenger earlier this month. Monday’s court filing is the latest development in the dispute over ballot access.