Democrats filed a lawsuit Friday as early voting failures affected thousands of Alaskans in villages "key to Democratic hopes" just days out from the midterms, The New York Times reported Saturday. Filed in Anchorage Superior Court, the lawsuit alleges that 18 early voting sites in rural Alaska had either "failed to open, opened late, maintained irregular hours or lacked ballots altogether," the Times reported. The early voting period in Alaska began on Oct. 19 and is scheduled to end on Monday, Nov. 2. Democratic State Sen. Bill Wielechowski wrote Alaska election officials earlier this month about the matter, arguing there was "no legal excuse for the failure to open" the early voting sites. Democrats' lawsuit suggests that despite Wielechowski's letter, the matter had not been addressed.