Justice Dept. Seeks to Segregate Alaska Ballots

The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking a court order to separate all ballots ranking a Senate candidate named Dan J. Sullivan in Alaska. The move is part of a criminal investigation into an alleged effort to mislead voters by listing a challenger with the same name as the Republican incumbent, Sen. Dan Sullivan. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan Wilson filed the request on Friday, stating the government wants to preserve these specific ballots to determine if voter confusion affected the outcome. Wilson noted that the Justice Department sees a substantial risk that the candidacy will result in an electoral process lacking integrity.

The investigation became public on Friday, a step federal prosecutors rarely take. The probe follows reports that the campaign of Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola was involved in recruiting Dan J. Sullivan for the ballot. Peltola denied on Thursday that she knew about the effort to place the candidate on the ballot. The Justice Department argued that isolating the ballots is necessary to investigate whether the rankings were the product of confusion.

State attorneys pushed back against the federal intervention. They argued that Alaska elections officials already took steps to distinguish the two Sullivans on the ballot. The state also pointed to its ranked voting system as a safeguard that addresses potential voter concerns. Despite these arguments, federal attorneys maintained that the risk of confusion remains high enough to warrant the separation of the ballots for potential analysis.

The legal action comes with less than a week until Election Day. The Justice Department’s filing specifically requests that defendants preserve and segregate the ballots ranking Daniel J. Sullivan. This preservation is intended for the purpose of investigating the validity of those rankings should the investigation require a deeper look into the voting data. The department emphasized that the goal is to guard against the danger of a compromised electoral process.

The case adds a federal layer to a competitive Senate race. The incumbent, Dan Sullivan, is seeking re-election against Peltola. The presence of a second candidate with a similar name created a specific factual question for election officials and courts. The federal government’s involvement signals that the case has moved beyond standard election administration into a formal legal and criminal inquiry. The next steps depend on whether the court grants the request to keep the ballots separate for review.

This development is one of several federal actions affecting the upcoming midterm elections. On the same day, the Justice Department sent letters to all 50 states reminding officials of their obligation to retain election records for 22 months. Spokesperson Kiersten Pels wrote that the department relies on state voting records to bring unlawful voting and registration cases. The department warned that failure to comply could lead to prison time or fines. These actions occur as early voting data shows millions more Americans voting early compared to the last midterm election.