WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday issued subpoenas regarding allegations that Democratic candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign helped place a candidate with the identical name of incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan on the Alaska ballot, ABC News and the Associated Press reported.
The federal steps followed a report Wednesday by The New York Times revealing that Peltola’s campaign and Democratic operatives coordinated to recruit Dan J. Sullivan Jr. to run in the midterm election. Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee had previously denied involvement for months, according to news reports.
Federal and state investigations launched
Earlier Thursday, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced a state criminal inquiry into the recruitment scheme, which critics allege was engineered to confuse voters intending to support the Republican incumbent, The Guardian reported. Donald Trump also called earlier in the week for the criminal prosecution of Peltola and her campaign staff.
The Justice Department had already filed a lawsuit the prior week seeking to halt or delay the certification of the Senate results if the Republican senator is defeated. That legal action remains pending in court, according to reports.
Legal scholars and former federal officials raised questions about the legal rationale and timing of the subpoenas, noting that the Justice Department historically avoids visible investigative steps involving candidates immediately ahead of an election. Justin Levitt, a former Justice Department official during the Biden administration, told The Guardian that he was unsure what federal statutes would confer department jurisdiction over the ballot maneuver.
“Sure makes it seem like the point of the investigation is to become the story,” Levitt said.
Ranked-choice voting and early ballots
The disclosures arrived after approximately 58,000 Alaskans — representing nearly one out of every 10 registered voters in the state — had already cast early ballots, Fox News reported. The timing means tens of thousands of citizens voted before knowing about the reported Democratic coordination behind the second Sullivan candidacy.
Dan J. Sullivan Jr. qualified for the general election ballot after capturing 2.5 percent of the vote in the primary, according to Fox News. His campaign platform listed no party affiliation and took no positions on public issues, while his website urged Alaskans to defeat the incumbent and back a candidate who stands up for the state.
Alaska utilizes a ranked-choice voting system, which allows voters to rank their choices among four general election contenders. Under this structure, lower-ranked choices receive votes if a voter’s primary pick is eliminated. Some state Republicans, including state Sen. James Kaufman, have argued that having two candidates named Dan Sullivan on the same ballot could cause fatigue or confusion among voters unfamiliar with or opposed to ranking multiple candidates, Fox News reported.
The high-stakes Alaska contest is viewed as one of several competitive races nationwide that could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate. What remains unresolved is how the courts will handle the Justice Department’s pending lawsuit and whether federal or state investigators will announce formal charges before Tuesday’s election.
