Alaska Supreme Court
Sunny Guerin, Elizabeth Asisuan Toovak, and Vera Lincoln v. State of Alaska, Division of Elections
April 28, 2023537 P.3d 770
Summary
The Alaska Supreme Court affirmed summary judgment for the Division of Elections, holding that the statutory 64-day deadline for replacing a withdrawn candidate applied to the special general election. Because the fifth-place candidate withdrew after that deadline, the Division properly declined to place her on the ballot, and applying the deadline imposed only a slight, reasonable, nondiscriminatory burden on voters’ constitutional rights. The court also noted that the Division appeared to have violated other election-law requirements, but those issues were not directly challenged and did not justify disregarding the 64-day deadline.