Top federal prosecutor in Alaska says criminal probe underway over would-be spoiler Senate candidate

U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman announced on Friday that a criminal investigation has been launched in Alaska concerning an alleged plot to confuse voters by placing a Senate candidate on the ballot under the same name as the incumbent Republican, Dan J. Sullivan. The probe, which has been ongoing for months, gained momentum after The New York Times reported that the Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola's campaign may have been involved in recruiting Dan Sullivan.

U.S. Attorney Heyman, speaking to reporters, emphasized that when credible information surfaces, the department is committed to investigating alleged voter confusion and will act decisively. The Justice Department also filed court documents seeking to isolate ballots ranking Dan J. Sullivan to investigate if such rankings resulted from voter confusion.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan Wilson filed a request for the government to preserve and segregate all ballots ranking Daniel J. Sullivan, should the investigation become necessary. This development follows a parallel civil lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice to block the certification of the Alaska Senate race if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently rejected the DOJ's request to set aside disputed ballots received in the midterm election from potentially non-citizen voters in California. Alaska's Attorney General, Doug Graeff, has also ordered an investigation into Peltola's campaign, alleging that the newspaper's reporting reveals an organized effort to manipulate the state's elections by recruiting candidates with the same name as an incumbent senator to mislead voters.