A federal judge on Sunday dismissed the Department of Justice’s attempt to block Alaska from certifying its U.S. Senate election if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses. The department filed notice hours later that it would appeal the ruling.

Judge Sharon Gleason, an Alaska federal district court judge, focused on the practical and constitutional problems created by the government’s demand. Many Alaskans had already voted, leaving no way to determine which candidate named Sullivan they intended to support without violating voter privacy.

The ballot includes both the incumbent senator and Daniel J. Sullivan. The Department of Justice claimed the mere presence of Daniel J. Sullivan could compromise the integrity of the Senate election by confusing voters.

“More fundamentally, the United States provides no workable plan as to how it proposes to segregate ballots cast for Daniel J. Sullivan on Election Day and then conduct a court-ordered unspecified “investigation” of those ballots in a manner that would preserve voter secrecy,” Gleason wrote.

Sen. Sullivan said Sunday that he would accept the result of Tuesday’s election even if he loses. Asked on CNN’s “State of the Union” whether he would accept the results only if declared the winner, Sullivan answered, “No. I’m going to accept the election results.”

Marc Elias, an attorney representing Democratic nominee Mary Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, celebrated the dismissal. Gleason had allowed Peltola, the DSCC and others to join the case as defendants.

“VICTORY: Federal Court DISMISSES Dept. of Justice lawsuit seeking to prevent Alaska from certifying a U.S. Senate election if Democrat Mary Peltola wins,” Elias wrote in a statement posted on social media Sunday afternoon.

Shortly before the appeal notice was filed, a DOJ spokesperson said the case was dismissed on procedural grounds. The spokesperson maintained that the court did not dispute the government’s argument that Daniel J. Sullivan, identified as “a/k/a Decoy Dan,” entered the contest as a frivolous candidate meant to confuse voters.

President Donald Trump said he personally ordered the Department of Justice to file the lawsuit. On Sunday, he attacked Elias and other attorneys challenging the administration’s election efforts, calling them “CRIMINALS who totally abuse the Laws of our Land.”

Peltola’s campaign praised the ruling and said Alaskans would select their next senator, not the incumbent Sullivan or his allies in Washington. The campaign also characterized the department’s investigation as a sham and its lawsuit as baseless.

The Trump administration argued that Daniel J. Sullivan entered the race entirely to confuse Alaska voters. It claimed that any result affected by his ballot presence would violate alleged state and election official duties under the National Voter Registration Act to “protect the integrity of the electoral process.”

MS NOW could not locate another instance in which the Department of Justice sued a state or locality under that provision of the National Voter Registration Act. Legal disputes over ballot formatting and candidate access, however, regularly appear during election years.

Before Alaska’s June primary, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that Daniel J. Sullivan should remain on the ballot. It found that the state Division of Elections had “abused its discretion” by removing him, while allowing election officials to determine how his name should appear under Alaska law.

The New York Times reported that operatives associated with Peltola recruited Daniel J. Sullivan, while Peltola had been narrowly leading in polls. Former Peltola campaign manager Elisa Rios told the newspaper that she and DSCC staff participated and that Peltola knew about the operation, although Rios later retracted her statements.

Peltola, her campaign and the DSCC denied involvement in Daniel J. Sullivan’s candidacy. At a Thursday campaign event, Peltola said she knew nothing about an effort to place him on the ballot, adding, “I am not interested in tricking voters.”

Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy announced an investigation Wednesday into the effort to recruit Daniel J. Sullivan, while Trump said Peltola should face criminal prosecution. At least three Daniel J. Sullivan donors also received home visits from FBI agents in rural Alaska during the previous three days.

The Alaska case was the DOJ’s second preemptive lawsuit against a state ahead of the midterms. A judge rejected its request to segregate and prevent California from counting mail ballots cast by people in a Department of Homeland Security database, concluding the request would violate the Constitution and voting and civil rights statutes.

“Once a vote is segregated, lasting harm has occurred. If the Executive can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election due to unproven allegations, then our democracy is in danger,” Judge David Carter of the Central District of California wrote.

“This Court declines to be a party to such process,” Carter concluded.