Challenger Dan Sullivan had been booted from ballot, but supreme court ruled he can compete against senator of same name A man with the same name and party affiliation as Senator Dan Sullivan, a Republican, is qualified to run for the seat and ordered election officials to place him on Alaska’s primary ballot in August, the state supreme court ruled Monday. The ruling came hours after arguments on Monday and just days after state court Judge Thomas Matthews found the division of elections had “abused its discretion” in booting the challenger Sullivan from the ballot. The supreme court, in a brief ruling, affirmed Matthews’ decision but sent back to the division the issue of how the challenger should be listed on the ballot, “within the confines of existing Alaska ballot design law”.