Alaska Senate Ballots: Federal Prosecutors Confirm Criminal Probe
The Department of Justice is investigating whether a candidate with the same name as the incumbent senator was placed on the ballot to confuse voters.
By Amina Howard ·
ANCHORAGE, Alaska. The top federal prosecutor in Alaska confirmed on Friday that a criminal investigation is underway into an alleged scheme to place a Senate candidate named Dan J. Sullivan on the ballot alongside the Republican incumbent, Sen. Dan Sullivan. The investigation has been active for months, but U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman said revelations reported this week by The New York Times about the Democratic campaign's involvement have led to a surge in law enforcement activity in the state.
“When credible information comes out, we are committed to pursuing that information to deceive voters and we will act on it,” Heyman said. “We are acting on it intensely and swiftly.” Federal prosecutors have issued dozens of grand jury subpoenas and requests to preserve records this week, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press. Heyman declined to identify potential crimes or targets of the probe but encouraged the public to provide tips.
In a court filing on Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan Wilson asked a judge to preserve ballots that rank Daniel J. Sullivan. The government “seeks to preserve and segregate all ballots ranking Daniel J. Sullivan for the purposes of investigating whether such ranking was the product of voter confusion, should such investigation become necessary,” the filing states. The request is part of a Justice Department lawsuit filed last week seeking to block certification of the Alaska Senate race if incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan loses.
The Department of Justice also filed a list of questions it wants to compel the Peltola campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to answer about their reported role in recruiting the challenger, Dan J. Sullivan. This civil litigation is proceeding alongside the criminal probe confirmed on Friday. Attorneys for the state have argued that Alaska election officials already took steps to distinguish the two Sullivans on the ballot and that the state's ranked-choice voting system further addresses concerns about potential confusion.
Mary Peltola, the Democratic candidate challenging Sen. Sullivan, denied Thursday that she knew about any effort to put the other Dan J. Sullivan on the ballot. “I just want to clear the air,” she said at a campaign rally in Juneau. “I knew nothing about any other candidate on the ballot except for me and the incumbent. That is all I have ever known about. I am not interested in tricking voters.” The candidate Dan J. Sullivan has long denied he was running at Democrats' behest and has said he had no contact with Peltola's campaign. “Zero, none, zilch,” he said in June after announcing his run.
It is highly unusual for Justice Department officials to publicly discuss a criminal investigation or confirm its existence. The timing of the press conference is notable given the department's longstanding practice of avoiding public steps in the weeks before an election that could be perceived as influencing a political outcome. Separately, Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has ordered an investigation into the matter, saying the reporting “reveals disturbing new evidence of an organized effort to manipulate Alaska's elections by recruiting candidates, including one with the same name as an incumbent U.S. Senator, to deliberately confuse voters and misdirect their votes.”
The race is among a handful of Senate contests this year expected to determine control of the chamber. President Trump has directed the Justice Department to sue to block certification of the Senate race should Peltola defeat Sen. Sullivan. State attorneys have asked a court to rule on the lawsuit by Monday, saying the case could “cast a cloud over Alaska's election that is contrary to the public interest.” Trump on Thursday cast doubt on whether Peltola would be seated in the Senate even if she won the election. “Well, you're going to have to see what happens,” the president told reporters on his way to a rally in South Carolina. “It's hard to believe that she could even be allowed to run.”
