An Alaskan judge on Friday ruled that a man named Dan Sullivan has the right to be on the ballot as a Republican Senate candidate, marking a blow to election officials’ attempt to block him from running for office because he bears the same name as the leading GOP candidate in the race.

The Alaska Division of Elections said earlier this month that Dan. J. Sullivan was ineligible to challenge Sen. Dan S. Sullivan’s bid for reelection after it was determined that he declared his candidacy “to confuse or mislead and to thereby compromise the ballot’s fairness or neutrality.”

Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews’ ruling this week overturned the Election Division’s decision. Matthews stated that the division’s move was not based on the Constitution, Alaska law, or its own regulations, but rather “upon a new, previously unstated, ‘good faith’ criteria.” Matthews cited precedent in Alaska Democratic Party v. Beecher, which reaffirmed a “presumption in favor of candidate eligibility” and held that “where there is a statutory ambiguity as to whether or not a candidate is eligible to run for office, the statute should be construed in favor of eligibility.”

“In addition, the (Division of Elections) Director’s assertion that Mr. Sullivan seeks to confuse or misguide voters is not supported by a preponderance of evidence,” the judge wrote in a 32-page decision issued Friday night. “[The Division] must identify clear statutory or regulatory authority before removing the candidate from the ballot which it has not done.”

The case is expected to be quickly appealed to the Alaska Supreme Court by Monday, before the Division begins printing primary ballots on Tuesday. The primary election is on August 18. In Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, the non-partisan primary will send the top four performing candidates to face off in the general election, regardless of party.

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