Alaska governor orders criminal probe into alleged scheme to put spoiler candidate on Senate ballot

Alaska's Republican governor has ordered his state's Department of Public Safety to investigate whether Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola's campaign broke the law by recruiting a candidate with nearly the same name as her Republican opponent — a move the governor says was designed to trick voters into casting ballots for the wrong person.

Today's New York Times 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.— Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Alaska

The investigation, announced Wednesday evening, follows a New York Times report that found Peltola's team worked with people trying to recruit a retired schoolteacher named Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr. to enter Alaska's four-way ranked-choice U.S. Senate race — where the incumbent on the ballot is Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan. Drawing on 12 sources, text messages, and documents, the Times reported that the effort was known internally as the 'ballot composition project' and was designed to siphon support away from the incumbent in order to benefit Peltola.

The alleged scheme extended beyond a single name-alike candidate, the Times reported: according to the paper, Peltola's team and senior aides at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee worked to coax other would-be spoilers into the race.

Dunleavy noted that the Alaska Division of Elections had already investigated similar concerns in June, and said the new reporting substantially supported that division's earlier findings. He directed the Department of Public Safety to determine whether criminal charges or civil action are warranted.

The evidence will determine what happens next.— Gov. Mike Dunleavy, Alaska

Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr. — described as a retired teacher — appears on the Alaska ballot listed without party affiliation, alongside incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, Peltola, and one other candidate. On Oct. 22, the Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit seeking to delay certification of results in the event that Sen. Dan S. Sullivan loses and the votes recorded for Daniel J. Sullivan could have altered the outcome; the suit seeks time to determine whether voters mistakenly selected the wrong candidate, according to Fox News.

Both Peltola's campaign and the DSCC denied involvement. In a statement to the Times, the campaign said: 'The Alaskans for Mary campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign and did not recruit any candidates into the race.' The DSCC told ABC News it was 'not involved with Dan J. Sullivan,' and added that 'Republicans have a long history of recruiting and propping up candidates in an attempt to boost their own campaigns.'

President Trump amplified the allegations at a rally in Chillicothe and on Truth Social, calling the situation voter fraud and demanding Peltola be removed from the ballot and prosecuted. In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote: 'This is Voter Fraud at the Highest Level, and the Dumocrat Candidate, who was involved in the scheme, Mary Peltola, should be removed from the Ballot and prosecuted.'

This is what happens when you have a candidate like Peltola, far left, who's got nothing to run on... What's remarkable here is that even today, she has not apologized. Even today, she's kind of playing as if nothing happened.— Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, Alaska

Peltola's campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. Dunleavy's probe has no set timeline, and the governor said the evidence will determine what follows — leaving open the question of whether charges will be filed before or after Alaska's election results are certified.

Why it matters — The investigation could result in criminal charges against a major-party Senate candidate days before or after votes are counted in a competitive race, and raises broader questions about the use of name-alike candidates to manipulate ballot outcomes in ranked-choice elections.

Sources differ on Whether Peltola's campaign recruited Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr. to run: NYT reporting based on 12 sources, texts, and documents says Peltola's team worked with people trying to recruit him (abcnews.com) vs 'The Alaskans for Mary campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign and did not recruit any candidates into the race' (foxnews.com)

Reported by thehill.com, foxnews.com, abcnews.com, justthenews.com