Judge rules that incarcerated U.S. House candidate can remain on Alaska ballot

An Anchorage Superior Court judge on Tuesday denied a request by the Alaska Democratic Party to have the name of a jailed non-resident removed from Alaska’s U.S. House ballot.

Alaska Democratic Party Executive Director Lindsay Kavanaugh said Tuesday evening that the party planned to appeal the decision to the Alaska Supreme Court.

Eric Hafner, a New Jersey man serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for threatening elected officials, is running for Alaska’s lone U.S. House seat despite never having resided in the state. Running as a Democrat, he finished sixth in the 12-way primary with 467 votes.

Under Alaska’s open primary system, the top four vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, advance to the general election. But when the third- and fourth-place finishers — both Republicans — dropped out of the race, the Alaska Division of Elections placed the fifth- and sixth-place finishers on the ballot.

The Alaska Democratic Party sued the state earlier this month, asking a judge to stop Hafner’s name from appearing on the ballot. The plaintiffs’ argument was twofold. First, they argued that Alaska law does not allow the sixth-place finisher to be elevated onto the ballot when other candidates drop out. Second, they argued that even if the sixth-place finisher could be placed on the ballot, Hafner should not have been allowed to appear on the ballot because he cannot fulfill the residency requirements of an elected member of Congress.

The U.S. Constitution stipulates that a candidate for Congress is required to be a resident of the state they represent once elected. But Hafner is serving his prison sentence in a facility in New York state. Hafner has suggested that he could become a resident of Alaska if he is granted a presidential pardon or compassionate release, or if he wins an ongoing appeal.

Hafner has previously run for U.S. House as a Democrat in Oregon and as a Republican in Hawaii. His mother, Carol Hafner, also ran for Alaska’s U.S. House seat in 2018 despite not residing in Alaska.

On Tuesday, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Ian Wheeles denied the request for an injunction, ruling against the Alaska Democratic Party and in favor of the state, which sought to continue the ballot printing process with Hafner’s name on the ballot.

Wheeles ruled that Alaska statutes allow for a sixth-place finisher to appear on the ballot if two of the top-four candidates drop out, even if the statutes do not say so explicitly. Wheeles also ruled that though Hafner was unlikely to become a resident of Alaska when elected, it was outside the court’s purview to remove Hafner from the ballot on those grounds.

“The court cannot make any factual finding about the future. The court would be speculating, which it has no authority to do in this context,” Wheeles wrote.

During oral arguments heard Monday, an attorney for the Division of Elections argued that removing Hafner’s name from the ballot could jeopardize the entire election because the ballots had already been sent to be printed, and the first batch of ballots was due to be mailed to overseas voters on Sept. 21.

In his decision, Wheeles agreed with the arguments made by the state about the potential threat to the integrity of the election by halting the ballot printing process.

Reprinting ballots could cause “significant confusion, public fear of fraud and other malfeasance, and disruption in the election as whole,” the judge wrote.

Wheeles wrote in his decision that the inclusion of Hafner’s name on the ballot would not cause “irreparable harm.”

The first-place finisher in Alaska’s primary is Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, who had nearly 51% of primary votes. In second with 26% was Republican challenger Nick Begich III, a businessman who lost twice to Peltola in 2022. The contest is largely seen as a high-stakes contest between Peltola and Begich. Alaska’s seat is one of only a handful across the country seen as winnable by either party.

The Alaska Democratic Party had argued that Hafner, who is running as a Democrat, could impact the election despite having essentially no chance of winning, by taking votes away from Peltola.

Under Alaska’s ranked choice election system, the leading candidate must secure over 50% of first-place votes to win outright. Otherwise, the winner is determined through a tabulation or instant runoff.

Wheeles wrote that “ranked choice voting neutralizes any claim of harm because, in theory, every voter can rank all candidates if they choose.”

The Alaska Republican Party had intervened in the case, siding with the state and arguing for Hafner’s name to be kept on the ballot.

The Alaska Republican Party is openly opposed to ranked choice voting and open primaries and has sought to use the appearance of a jailed candidate on Alaska’s ballot as proof that the system is flawed. In a statement Monday, Alaska Republican Party Chair Carmela Warfield said that “if our traditional, historical voting process was in place, this issue would be moot.”

“The fact is, we are currently burdened with ranked choice voting and its results, whether we like it or not,” Warfield wrote.

Officials within the Alaska Republican Party had asked the third-place finisher, Republican Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, to drop out of the race after she received 20% of the primary vote. They also pressured fourth-place finisher Matthew Salisbury, a relatively unknown Republican, to drop out of the race, arguing that would improve Begich’s chances of besting Peltola in November.

Kavanaugh, with the Alaska Democratic Party, did not immediately say when the party should file its appeal to the Alaska Supreme Court.

“We’re disappointed by the judge’s ruling but remain confident Peltola will win in November. Unlike the Republican Party, we don’t have to scheme to win by asking candidates to drop out until a convicted felon gets on the general election ballot who received less than half a percentage of the votes cast during the primary,” Kavanaugh said in a prepared statement. “We have more respect than that for voters in Alaska and clearly, our candidates are more viable than theirs.”