Alaska Judge Denies Peltola Campaign's Bid for Rejected-Ballot List, Saying the Reports Observers See Are Discarded Daily

An Anchorage judge has ruled that the Alaska Division of Elections does not have to give Mary Peltola's U.S. Senate campaign a list of voters whose absentee ballots were rejected, finding that the daily reports shown to ballot observers are thrown away and are not public records. The Digital Free Press read the 17-page order that Superior Court Judge Thomas A. Matthews signed on Nov. 11, 2026.

The campaign committee, Alaskans for Mary, sued Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher and the division on Nov. 6. Peltola, a Democrat and former U.S. representative, holds a narrow lead in first-choice votes over Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, according to the Anchorage Daily News, which published the order. The Sullivan campaign intervened in the case, the paper reported.

What the Campaign Asked For

According to the order, the campaign first asked each regional elections office on Oct. 27 for the "Absentee Register showing the accept or reject code for each absentee ballot," or other records showing "the identities of voters whose absentee ballots for the 2026 General Election have been rejected as well as the reasons for the rejection." It received no response, the order says, and sent a second demand on Nov. 4.

By the Nov. 10 hearing, the campaign had narrowed its request to the names of absentee voters, which the judge noted it had already received, plus each ballot's accept or reject code. The order says the campaign's lawyer told the court it did not intend to "phone bank" voters about rejected ballots.

What the Judge Found

Matthews wrote that the document the campaign wanted, the observer version of the absentee review board's "details report," is a working document that is "used to update VREMS," the state's voter registration database, after each board meeting, and then "all of the details reports are discarded." He called the reports "simply temporary records that are not preserved in practice," and ruled they are not public records under the Alaska Public Records Act.

The VREMS database itself is a public record, the judge wrote, but the division is not required to build a new report from it right now. He wrote that "VREMS is antiquated software" that cannot produce the information while protecting confidential addresses, and that the division lacks the "internal capability" or the resources "to procure a software program from the vendor." Even if the request were reasonable at another time of year, he wrote, "it is simply not reasonable nor required right now."

"The Division is actively in the middle of counting ballots," Matthews wrote. "The timing of the Campaign's request could simply not be worse."

The judge said his decision rests on "the record before the Court and the problematic timing" of the request, and that he did not need to decide the division's argument that releasing rejection codes would violate voters' privacy.

What Happens Next

Under state law cited in the order, district absentee ballot counting boards must certify their review by Nov. 18. The Anchorage Daily News reported that the election is scheduled to be certified on Nov. 25, and that Alaska has no process for voters to fix minor mistakes that get absentee ballots rejected.

The state Department of Law said in a statement quoted by the Daily News that the division "remains committed to its mission of ensuring Alaska's elections are administered fairly, accurately, and in accordance with the law."

Sources: Order Granting Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment, Alaskans for Mary v. Dahlstrom, No. 3AN-26-10304CI (Alaska Super. Ct., Nov. 11, 2026), published by the Anchorage Daily News (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28881835-peltola-absentee-ballots-rejection/); Anchorage Daily News (https://www.adn.com/politics/2026/11/11/judge-denies-request-by-peltola-campaign-for-absentee-ballot-data-from-alaska-division-of-elections/); Fox News (https://www.foxnews.com/politics/peltola-campaign-loses-court-rejected-absentee-ballots-maintains-narrow-lead). Cover photo: the Boney Courthouse in downtown Anchorage, by James Brooks, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).