The Donald Trump administration has filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent the immediate certification of the U.S. Senate election results in Alaska if the Democratic candidate wins by a narrow margin in the November 3 midterm elections.

According to the Associated Press and The Washington Post on October 23 (local time), the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit the previous day to block the certification of the election results if incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan narrowly loses to Democratic candidate Mary Peltola.

The Justice Department cited the possibility of voter confusion as the basis for the lawsuit, pointing out that a candidate with the same name as Senator Sullivan is included on the ballot.

The name of the incumbent Republican senator is Dan S. Sullivan, while the candidate with the same name is Dan J. Sullivan.

Republicans have claimed that Democrats put forward a candidate with the same name as the Republican candidate in an attempt to cause voter confusion, which the candidate and Democrats have denied.

The Justice Department's stance is that if the Democratic candidate wins, and there is a possibility that voter confusion caused by the same-name candidate affected the election results, the official certification of the results should be blocked until actual voting intentions can be verified.

In the lawsuit, the Justice Department stated that the purpose of candidate Dan J. Sullivan's run is "solely to reduce the vote count of Senator Sullivan and benefit the Peltola campaign," adding that it "will confuse or mislead voters, ultimately distorting the will of Alaska voters."

Alaska election authorities attempted to exclude the same-name candidate Dan J. Sullivan from the ballot in June citing voter confusion, but a state court permitted his run, and the state supreme court upheld the decision.

Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher, registered as a Republican just before running in this year's election.

On October 21, President Trump took to the social media platform Truth Social to label the same-name candidate's run as "fraud" and criticized the court that permitted it as "ridiculous."

He stated, "To achieve justice and fairness, we are reviewing strong legal measures to remove the fraudster Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. from the ballot and hold accountable the Democratic interference in the election."

Meeting with reporters the previous day regarding speculation that the Justice Department could take steps to block the official certification of state election results, Attorney General Todd Blanche called it a "worst-case scenario" while refusing to completely rule out the possibility.

He stated, "The Justice Department has no intention of unduly interfering in elections or state certification processes," but added, "However, I cannot say that we will under no circumstances ever do so."

As the Trump administration moves to block the finalization of results based on the premise of a potential defeat even before the election takes place, speculations are rising that it is laying the legal groundwork to contest unfavorable outcomes after the midterms.

In particular, Alaska is considered one of the key battlegrounds in this election that could decide the Senate majority.

Since Democrats need to secure four additional seats to retake the Senate majority, it is crucial for Republicans to defend their incumbent seats.

CNN analyzed that this lawsuit is another attempt by the federal government, which is granted a limited role in election administration under the Constitution, to interfere in state election procedures.

Alaska election management authorities have already taken steps to minimize voter confusion, such as listing the candidates' middle initials on the ballot, designating Dan S. Sullivan as the "incumbent," and omitting the "Republican Party" affiliation for the same-name candidate.

Furthermore, CNN pointed out that it remains uncertain whether the Justice Department's demand will be accepted given the difficulty of verifying actual voting intentions after the fact.

The New York Times (NYT) evaluated this as an "extremely unusual move."

Election experts cited by the NYT stated that it is difficult to find similar precedents where the federal government attempted to block a state's election result certification, raising criticisms that this lawsuit could be perceived as political election interference and exceeds the authority of the federal government.

The Washington Post (WP) noted regarding the lawsuit that "amid growing concerns over whether the Trump administration will accept the midterm election results, the Justice Department has embarked on an abnormal legal dispute."

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