Justice Department Seeks to Isolate Alaska Ballots Amid Criminal Probe Over Senate Candidate
Days before Tuesday's election, federal officials asked a court to set aside certain Alaska ballots in a Senate race that could help decide control of the chamber.
The U.S. Department of Justice pushed on Friday for a court order to isolate certain Alaska ballots to investigate potential voter confusion, while federal officials confirmed a criminal probe over a Senate candidate who shares a name with the Republican incumbent, according to NPR reporting of the Associated Press account published Saturday.
The race is headlined by two-term Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, in a ranked-choice general election set for Tuesday, Nov. 3. The reporting said the race is among a handful nationwide expected to determine control of the Senate. A second candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan, is also on the ballot.
Alaska U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman told reporters in Anchorage that the investigation has been ongoing for several months, and the Justice Department, as part of a lawsuit it filed last week, asked a judge to order state elections officials to isolate ballots ranking Daniel J. Sullivan. In a filing, Alaska Assistant U.S. Attorney E. Bryan Wilson said 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 an investigation become necessary."
The reporting said the owner of a boat dealership in the second candidate's hometown of Petersburg, who had donated to his campaign, told the Associated Press that an FBI agent visited the business and wanted to know whether he had been misled by the candidacy. It also reported that President Donald Trump has said he told the department to file the case. No ruling on the request was reported in the coverage read this cycle.
