A judge threw out the Alaska ballot suit.

A federal judge in Anchorage on Sunday threw out a Justice Department lawsuit that sought to block Alaska from certifying a loss by Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan if votes for a rival who shares his name could have changed the result, Reuters reported. U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason said the government had no standing. Mary Peltola, a Democratic former representative, is challenging Sullivan. A different candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan, is also on the ballot.

Gleason wrote that segregating those ballots would violate the secret ballot. “The United States provides no workable plan as to how it proposes to segregate ballots cast for Daniel J. Sullivan on Election Day and then conduct a court-ordered unspecified ‘investigation’ of those ballots in a manner that would preserve voter secrecy,” she wrote.

The United States provides no workable plan as to how it proposes to segregate ballots cast for Daniel J. Sullivan on Election Day.

The department said it will appeal. It called the dismissal procedural and said Alaskan voters deserve a fair election, not to be misled “in an attempt to rig outcomes.” The suit is not still pending in her court. This is not Saturday’s story of a case that had not yet been thrown out.

The photograph is Oct. 30, people voting at Midtown Mall in Anchorage. Emily Mesner made it for Reuters. It is not Sunday’s hearing. Gleason is not in the frame. Neither Sullivan is in the frame.