Alaska Governor Orders Probe Into Senate Ballot

Republican Governor Mike Dunleavy announced on Wednesday night that he is directing the Alaska Department of Public Safety to investigate the state’s U.S. Senate race. The order came after a report in The New York Times alleged that Democratic operatives recruited a second candidate named Dan Sullivan to confuse voters. Dunleavy asked investigators to determine if the scheme violated Alaska statutes and if criminal or civil actions are warranted.

The investigation targets a potential spoiler candidacy in a race that is currently a toss-up. Two individuals named Dan Sullivan appear on the ballot. One is the Republican incumbent, Senator Dan Sullivan. The other is a non-incumbent who advanced to the general election after Alaska’s nonpartisan primary sent the top four vote-getters to the fall ballot. Democrats have denied involvement in the second candidate's run, and both the campaign of Democrat Mary Peltola and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee reiterated those denials after the report published.

Peltola, a former congresswoman, is attempting to flip the seat for the Democratic Party. While campaigning on Wednesday, she described the news story as a distraction. The non-incumbent Sullivan did not respond to requests for comment from Alaska Public Media, though he has previously stated that running for Senate was his own decision. Republicans have used the report to criticize the Peltola campaign. Nate Adams, a spokesperson for Senator Sullivan, claimed in a statement that Peltola has spent months denying a scheme they were running all along.

President Donald Trump amplified the controversy by calling the findings voter fraud at the highest level in an online post. His Justice Department had already sought to intervene in the race. Last week, federal officials asked a court to delay certification if the incumbent loses by a small margin. They cited potential voter confusion from having two Sullivans on the ballot. Election law experts had previously described the DOJ’s case as weak because the Constitution grants states control over elections.

Justice Department officials said on Thursday that the new reporting expands their options for investigating the race. They filed an amended complaint citing the New York Times article. It is currently unclear which specific laws the second Sullivan’s candidacy may have violated. Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who co-authored a book on dirty tricks in campaigns, noted that such tactics are common in politics. She told NPR that there are many tricks, both old and new, and that the internet makes it easy to spread information or corrections.

Some voters in Alaska compared the situation to Republican groups spending money to support a Democrat who is a federal prisoner in New York but appears on Alaska’s U.S. House ballot. Reactions to the Senate race news remain mixed locally. Some residents are frustrated that the story draws attention away from other issues. Others doubt that voters will be confused, noting that the ballot clearly identifies which Sullivan is the Republican incumbent.

Experts point out that the media attention could actually reduce voter confusion. Additionally, Alaska uses a ranked-choice voting system for the general election. If voters are uncertain, they can rank both Sullivans and leave Peltola unranked. The general election ballot also includes a question on whether voters want to keep the state’s unique election system.