A federal judge in Anchorage has fast-tracked a bid to kill a Justice Department lawsuit that seeks to stop Alaska from certifying its U.S. Senate race if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses — setting up a possible ruling before voters even finish casting ballots Tuesday.

The Trump administration's Justice Department sued Alaska on Oct. 22, asking a federal court to bar the state's Division of Elections from declaring a winner in the Senate race unless that winner is Sullivan. The suit leans on the National Voter Registration Act, a federal law that primarily governs voter registration rules rather than how ballots are counted or certified.

Alaska moved almost immediately to have the case thrown out. In a filing reported by Alaska's News Source, the state's attorneys argued the law cited in the complaint has nothing to do with vote counting, and pointed to a September U.S. Supreme Court ruling limiting federal authority over state-run elections. Alaska Public Media reported the state called the lawsuit's legal basis nonexistent.

Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola's campaign, along with several nonpartisan voting-rights groups, filed their own motions seeking dismissal. U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason has since put the Democrats' dismissal request on an expedited schedule, according to Democracy Docket, with one filing asking Gleason to rule by Nov. 2 — a day before polls close.

The case has been complicated by an unrelated quirk on Alaska's own ballot: a second candidate who also happens to be named Dan Sullivan, running with no party affiliation, is also in the race. The Alaska Supreme Court upheld his right to appear on the ballot earlier this year over objections that his candidacy was designed to confuse voters.

No matter how Gleason rules on the dismissal motions, the underlying fight over whether a federal court — rather than state election officials — gets any say in certifying a Senate race is unlikely to be resolved before Tuesday's vote itself.