Alaska judge denies Mary Peltola campaign access request for rejected absentee ballots, as her lead tightens in Senate race

A judge in Alaska denied a request from the Mary Peltola campaign seeking access to records related to rejected absentee ballots, according to multiple reports Tuesday, in litigation tied to the Alaska U.S. Senate contest.

The court dispute centers on absentee ballots that election officials rejected and the campaign’s efforts to obtain information about those ballots as the race continued to be counted and reviewed.

Fox News reported that the Peltola campaign lost its court bid for ballot records, while also saying Peltola’s lead over Republican Dan Sullivan remained narrow and continued to shrink after the court development.

The Hill reported separately that the judge denied the campaign’s request for a list of rejected absentee ballots, framing it as a denial of the campaign’s access bid rather than an order changing how ballots would be counted.

PBS NewsHour reported that the judge was weighing the lawsuit brought by the Peltola campaign over absentee ballots in the Senate race, describing the case in the context of the campaign’s push for information about ballots rejected in the process.

With the court request denied, the reports indicate that the immediate effect was limited to the campaign’s ability to obtain the requested ballot-rejection information, while the underlying Senate race remained subject to ongoing vote counting and any further lawful challenges the campaigns may pursue.