Tillis says it’s ‘appropriate to take a look at’ Alaska ballot with two Dan Sullivans running

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) on Sunday said it was “appropriate to take a look at” the outcome of the Alaska Senate race with two candidates with similar names on the ballot, which prompted a Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuit .

“Alaska has a candidate who just coincidentally happens to be the same name as my friend and colleague who came in with me in 2014,” Tillis told “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan on CBS News, referring to Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska). “So I think it’s appropriate to take a look at it.”

Tillis said he was “not sure” why the DOJ had to file a lawsuit “other than, as [Attorney General Todd Blanche] said earlier, make sure that you have the ballots right so we can be certain that the Democrats were not successful in confusing” voters and “better position” Democrat Mary Peltola to be the winner.

Brennan raised the comments made by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who said the DOJ should not have filed its lawsuit and that “when it came to the ballot, Alaskans don’t need help,” and asked if there will be consequences from Capitol Hill.

“Well, there are very few people that know Alaska better than Lisa, to be honest with you,” Tillis said. “Lisa Murkowski is a friend and an extraordinary member of the U.S. Senate. I agree that –– filing the lawsuit before anything that could be substantiated … It’s almost a preemptive, a presumptive posture, versus simply telling the Alaska election officials, ‘We’re going to be watching this closely.'”

Tillis accused Democrats of “gaming the system” with Daniel J. Sullivan’s name appearing on the ballot.

In Alaska, the top four vote-getters in the primary advance to the general election, which is tabulated using ranked-choice voting. While they have similar names, Sen. Sullivan and Daniel J. Sullivan will appear differently on the ballot , with the senator labeled “incumbent” and “Republican.”

The DOJ filed the suit last Thursday, claiming that the existence of a candidate with a name similar to Sullivan’s would make a win by Peltola invalid.

Blanche, who appeared earlier in the program, told Brennan in a fiery exchange that the DOJ was “asking the court to step in where the Alaska Supreme Court didn’t, which is to look at federal law and, if necessary, to allow a process for Alaska to decide who should be certified as a winner.”

“All we were doing is trying to put guardrails in place so that if that happens, there’s a system allowed where the ballots are kept in a way so that we can determine whether there was confusion,” Blanche said. “It’s not saying, ‘Don’t certify.'”

Blanche would not say whether President Trump directed him to file the lawsuit and denied that the president said, on camera, that he directed the DOJ to file the lawsuit. Trump told reporters on Friday that he had greenlit the preemptive election challenge himself.

“I’m the one who said, ‘Do it,'” Trump said.