Gov. Mike Dunleavy recently expressed interest in joining Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Supreme Court lawsuit, and certain Republican legislators asked him to direct the Department of Law to do so.
Make no mistake about it, that lawsuit is not about election integrity and protecting the fundamental democratic principle of one vote for one person. Instead, it seeks to invalidate millions of votes cast in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – the states which helped secure President Donald Trump’s defeat.
Texas seeks an unprecedented remedy – the erasure of the popular will at a massive scale – and makes an astonishing and legally baseless claim: that one state can bring suit to challenge the conduct of elections in other states. If so, every future national election can become a legal contest among states, not just among candidates. This would include the ability of other states to challenge Alaska’s elections.
It’s time for our elected officials to follow the footsteps of Republican leaders like Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse and the Governor Herbert of Utah who are calling out these attempts to undermine the will of the voters what they are: publicity stunts and a waste of taxpayer dollars. And once Gov. Dunleavy appoints the next attorney general for our great state, our Legislature needs to ensure in the confirmation process that our future attorney general will protect the rule of law, and not join such baseless attacks on our democracy, even if directed to do so by the governor.
Jahna Lindemuth
Former Alaska Attorney General
Advisory Board Member, Voter Protection Program
Anchorage
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