Judge allows a man serving a 20-year prison sentence to remain on Alaska ballot

JUNEAU, Alaska — A judge ruled Tuesday that a man serving a 20-year prison sentence will be allowed to remain on the Alaska general election ballot for the state’s only seat in the House of Representatives.

Anchorage Circuit Judge Ian Wheeles has denied a request by the Alaska Democratic Party to remove Eric Hafner from the November ballot. Hafner, who has no apparent ties to Alaska, pleaded guilty in 2022 to charges of making threats against police officers, judges and others in New Jersey. He is running as a Democrat in a closely watched race. with the heading Democratic U.S. Representative Mary Peltola and Republican Nick Begich.

Lawyers for the Alaska Democratic Party said state election officials made a mistake by placing Hafner on the ballot and that he did not meet the requirements to serve in Congress. They also said his presence on the ballot would complicate the party’s efforts to get Peltola re-elected.

“It will confuse voters by confronting them with a candidate, presumably a Democrat, whom plaintiffs do not support and who would not be eligible to serve if elected,” party attorneys David Fox and Thomas Amodio said in a court document.

Alaska uses an open primary system, in which the four people with the most votes, regardless of party, advance to the general election, where votes are determined by ranked ballot.

Hafner originally finished sixth in the primary, with just 467 votes, but was placed on the general election ballot after two Republicans, Lieutenant Governor Nancy Dahlstrom and Matthew Salisbury, who came in third and fourth respectively, withdrew. Peltola, Begich and Dahlstrom were the most prominent candidates in the race, with a combined total of 97.4% of the vote.

Begich, who supports the attempt to repeal Alaska’s open primaries and ranked-choice voting system The parliamentary election system had called on conservatives to unite to have the best chance of defeating Peltola in November.

John Wayne Howe, a member of the Alaska Independence Party who originally finished fifth in the primary, also qualified for the November ballot.

Members of the House of Representatives must be at least 25 years old, a U.S. citizen for at least seven years, and a resident of the state in which they are running if elected, according to the Constitution. Four of the 12 candidates in the Alaska House of Representatives primary, including Hafner, gave out-of-state campaign addresses.

Hafner’s statement of candidacy, filed with the state Elections Department, lists a federal prison in New York as his current mailing address.