As promised in my previous post, I have some thoughts on the lawsuit over a potential Republican loss in the Alaska Senate race. The AP has the details: Trump says he ordered the Justice Department’s lawsuit over Alaska’s US Senate race.

President Donald Trump on Friday said he told his administration to file its lawsuit to block certification of the U.S. Senate race in Alaska if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses, kicking off what many fear could become a lengthy battle between the government and states over certifying an election where the president’s party is struggling.

“I’m the one that said do it,” Trump told reporters as he landed for a campaign rally in Florida.

The lawsuit, filed late Thursday, centers on one of the president’s longstanding complaints in the Senate race — the presence of a second candidate named Dan Sullivan, who Republicans fear could siphon away votes from the incumbent in what’s likely to be a photo-finish contest with Democrat Mary Peltola, the state’s former congresswoman.

It seems worth noting that the issue has already been adjudicated in Alaska’s courts and the legality of the candidacy in question has been confirmed. Further, I am not even sure what standing the federal government has to sue here, not to mention that the election hasn’t happened yet.

But I 100% accept the notion that this was Trump’s idea because it’s so dumb and because I am certain he does not understand Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system.

Here’s the relevant portion of the Alaska ballot:

First, without getting into the RCV-of-it-all, there is one thing I am highly confident that voters can do when voting: identify their preferred party. As such, while there may be a handful of quasi-illiterate people who both can’t find the word “Republican” on the ballot, but still might find the wrong “Sullivan,” this strikes me as likely a negligible number.

So, okay, maybe there is a scenario in a one-round, extremely close plurality election wherein Daniel J. pulls in enough votes so that Dan S. loses to Peltola because of confusion. This strikes me as highly unlikely, but at least theoretically possible.

But that’s not what is going on here. No doubt Trump thinks this is what is possible (however unlikely), and yet…

Second, this is a ranked-choice ballot. Even if someone can’t tell the difference between the Dans, they can vote for both. I have tried to think of a scenario in which enough voter confusion would redound to Peltola’s advantage, but it is making my brain hurt. I guess if a large number of people voted for Daniel J. (while thinking they are voting for Dan S.) and did not rank anyone else, that could theoretically be enough to give Peltola the seat despite the majority actually preferring Dan S. It is a scenario that is headache-inducing, and even if that was the result, it would be impossible to prove in court that all the Daniel J. votes were really intended for Dan S.

Put more simply: not only are voters given adequate information on the ballot itself, but the electoral rules being used also make it virtually impossible for voter confusion to matter.

So, again, I totally believe that this utterly stupid lawsuit was ordered by Trump.

I would hasten to add that presidents shouldn’t be ordering such lawsuits and, as dumb as this is, it is disquieting to have the DOJ insert itself into an election before the votes are counted simply because the sitting president fears his party might lose the seat.