Justice Department Wants Alaska Ballots Ranking Dan J. Sullivan Set Aside

Justice Department Wants Alaska Ballots Ranking Dan J. Sullivan Set Aside

DOJ Asks Judge to Segregate One Class of Ballots

Days before Election Day, the Justice Department asked a federal judge to order Alaska election officials to preserve and segregate every ballot ranking Dan J. Sullivan in the state's U.S. Senate race. In a filing dated Friday, October 30, Assistant U.S. Attorney E. Bryan Wilson said the government seeks to preserve the ballots to investigate whether any rankings were the product of voter confusion, should such an investigation become necessary.

Top Prosecutor Confirms a Criminal Inquiry Is Underway

Alaska's top federal prosecutor confirmed on October 30 that a criminal investigation is underway over the second Sullivan candidacy and urged anyone with knowledge of the matter to contact the FBI promptly. A person familiar with the matter said subpoenas seeking grand jury testimony or documents, along with records preservation demands, were issued after The New York Times report appeared. At a rally in Florida late Friday, President Donald Trump said Peltola and Dan J. Sullivan should be prosecuted, adding that Attorney General Todd Blanche would make his own decision.

A Same-Name Challenger Recruited to Siphon Votes

The uproar traces to a New York Times investigation published October 28. Citing 12 sources, text messages and documents, the newspaper reported that people working with Democratic nominee Mary Peltola's campaign, its lawyers and senior aides at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee helped recruit Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher from Petersburg, to enter the race and draw votes from Republican incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan. The report described a summer 2025 effort combing voter rolls for residents named Dan Sullivan, said the recruit switched his registration from unaffiliated to Republican just before the filing deadline, and noted he won 2.5 percent in the primary to reach a four-candidate general election.

Governor Orders Probe as Early Votes Are Already Cast

Governor Mike Dunleavy ordered a state investigation into the Peltola campaign over the recruitment controversy. On the ranked-choice ballot, the incumbent is listed as Dan S. Sullivan, a registered Republican and the incumbent, while the challenger is listed as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. without a party affiliation. By the time the Times report emerged, nearly 1 in 10 registered Alaska voters had already cast ballots. Peltola denied involvement at a Juneau campaign event on October 29, saying she knew nothing about any candidate besides herself and the incumbent and had no interest in tricking voters. Dan J. Sullivan denied in June that he was running at Democrats' behest, describing his contact with Peltola's campaign as zero, none, zilch.

November 3 Vote Now Heads Toward a Court Fight

The department had already sued Alaska election officials last week, less than two weeks before the November 3 election, seeking to bar certification of the Senate race if the Republican incumbent loses by a margin attributable to voter confusion. A department spokesperson said the candidacy was intended to mislead voters and that the department was acting under the National Voter Registration Act to protect the integrity of the election. Alaska uses ranked-choice voting, and the outcome could help decide control of the Senate. Whether the court grants segregated ballot preservation, and where the criminal and state probes lead, will shape certification after voting ends.

When a Name Tilts a Race, What Is Fair

If a same-name candidate can plausibly confuse voters, should the fix come from more careful voters or from rules that keep such confusion off the ballot? Have you ever made a wrong pick because two options looked or sounded almost identical?