The Alaska Supreme Court will decide whether Eric Hafner, a Democrat serving a 20-year prison sentence in New York, can remain on Alaska’s ballot.
The Alaska Supreme Court is set to rule on whether a jailed man can appear on Alaska’s U.S. House ballot.
Anchorage Superior Court Judge Ian Wheeles on Tuesday denied a request by the Alaska Democratic Party to have Hafner’s name removed from Alaska ballots, reasoning that including Hafner’s name on the ballot was not likely to change the election results and that removing his name at this stage — after the Division of Elections has already sent ballots to be printed — would risk the integrity of the November election.
Third-place finisher Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom and fourth-place finisher Matthew Salisbury dropped out of the race after receiving 20% and 0.6% of the vote respectively. Both faced significant pressure to drop out from leaders within the Alaska Republican Party, who sought to consolidate support for Begich.After Dahlstrom and Salisbury dropped out, the Division of Elections placed the names of fifth-place finisher John Wayne Howe — chair of the Alaska Independence Party, who received 0.
Hafner, who has limited access to phone calls and no access to the internet, has at various points suggested that he could meet the residency requirement if granted compassionate release or a presidential pardon, or if he wins an ongoing appeal. Under Alaska’s ranked choice voting system, a candidate must receive more than 50% of first-place votes to win outright. Otherwise, the election is decided by a ranked-choice tabulation or instant runoff.
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