Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy has directed the state Department of Public Safety to investigate whether Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign broke state law by helping recruit a candidate who shares Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan’s name.
Dunleavy announced the move on Wednesday night, days before Tuesday’s election. He said the investigation would determine whether criminal charges or civil action are warranted.
The announcement followed a New York Times report that senior advisers to Peltola’s campaign and to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee helped recruit Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher from Petersburg, to run against the incumbent senator. The Times reported that the recruitment effort was part of what participants called a ballot composition project.
“Deliberately tricking voters into casting their ballots for someone else strikes at the integrity of our elections,” Dunleavy wrote on X. “Anyone or any organization found to have broken the law must be held accountable.”
President Donald Trump also weighed in on Wednesday, demanding that Peltola be removed from the ballot and prosecuted. He did not identify a specific criminal statute he believed had been violated.
Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee have denied taking part in the recruitment effort. Dan J. Sullivan has said he entered the race independently. Peltola dismissed the controversy at a Wednesday rally, calling it a distraction.
The dispute is not new. Alaska’s Division of Elections investigated the concerns in June, and its director removed Dan J. Sullivan from the ballot earlier this year, calling him a sham candidate. The Alaska Supreme Court overruled that decision, ruling that the state’s authority covers constitutional requirements such as age and residency, not a candidate’s intentions.
The Times also noted that the practice, known as ballot stacking, is common in campaigns and generally legal. The governor’s order shifts the question from politics to whether investigators can establish a violation of Alaska law.
Source: Juneau Independent
