by Misty Severi
The feds’ top prosecutor in Alaska confirmed Friday that the Justice Department is investigating allegations of a plot to confuse voters in the midterms by recruiting a candidate with the same name as the state’s incumbent senator.
U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman said the investigation has been going on for a while, but the confirmation comes after The New York Times reported this week that Alaska Senate Democratic nominee Mary Peltola’s campaign helped recruit a retiree named Dan J. Sullivan to run against Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan in next week’s elections.
The attorney said the new information resulted in a “significant surge of law enforcement assets to Alaska,” according to the Associated Press.
“When credible information comes out, we are committed to pursuing that information to deceive voters and we will act on it. We are acting on it intensely and swiftly,” Heyman said.
The investigation also comes after Peltola denied Thursday that she had any knowledge of the effort to put the other Dan Sullivan on the ballot.
“I just want to clear the air,” she said. “I knew nothing about any other candidate on the ballot except for me and the incumbent. That is all I have ever known about. I am not interested in tricking voters.”
It was not clear what charges the Justice Department is weighing or investigating, but congressional Republicans have also launched investigations into the alleged plot.
After The Times’ report came out, Gov. Mike Dunleavy said it revealed ” 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.”
“The Alaska Division of Elections investigated these very concerns in June of this year. The new reporting substantially supports the Division’s findings,” Dunleavy noted.
The Alaska governor directed the Alaska Department of Public Safety to “investigate whether this scheme violated Alaska’s laws and whether criminal charges or civil action are warranted. The evidence will determine what happens next.”
“Alaskans have a fundamental right to vote for the candidate they actually intend to support. Deliberately tricking voters into casting their ballots for someone else strikes at the integrity of our elections. Anyone or any organization found to have broken the law must be held accountable,” he added.
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Misty Severi is a reporter for Just the News.
Photo “Mary Peltola” by Mary Peltola.
