Feds Eye Alaska Ballots Days Before Voters Get a Say

Three days before Election Day, the Department of Justice asked a federal judge to separate every Alaska ballot showing a vote for a retired schoolteacher named Daniel J. Sullivan, so investigators could work out whether voters were "fooled" into wasting their votes. The request came Friday. Alaska's own attorney general's office called it "both disturbing and impossible."

The lawsuit, filed Oct. 22 at President Donald Trump's direction, would block certification of the Alaska Senate race if GOP Sen. Dan S. Sullivan loses. In plain terms, the federal executive wants to decide in advance that a result is illegitimate if it goes against the incumbent. A Republican-run state government, of all things, spent Saturday begging a judge to make it stop.

Who Has the Power

The state's filing said there is "no reason for this Court to entertain this meritless lawsuit any longer" and that "the relief demanded is inappropriate and not even possible given Alaskan voters' vital right to ballot secrecy." It asked U.S. District Court Judge Sharon L. Gleason to "immediately dismiss this lawsuit with prejudice and allow state officials to conduct the general election — including ballot counting and certification — free from unwarranted federal interference."

The Justice Department's legal hook is thin. It argues that a preamble to the 1990s law governing voter registration makes it responsible for the "integrity" of federal elections. Alaska officials pointed out that election certification is left up to the states. The ACLU put it sharply in its own filing: "Imagine if the federal executive could pluck a few words like 'election integrity' from some statutory preamble and, on that basis alone, bend the machinery of state elections to his will, preemptively blocking certification of a U.S. Senate election to protect his preferred candidate from defeat and then subjecting voters to a law-enforcement-led inquest about who they 'really' supported."

Omar Noureldin of Common Cause was blunter. "DOJ has no role in state election law," he said. The Alaska Supreme Court already ruled in June that the second candidate met every legal requirement to stay on the ballot.

What They're Calling "Order"

The apparatus didn't stop at a lawsuit. U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman, flanked by FBI officials and Alaska State Troopers, announced a criminal investigation at a Friday news conference. Sources at the Justice Department told Fox News the administration issued more than 30 subpoenas in 24 hours. Asked what crime was being pursued, Heyman said: "I'm not making any assumptions on whether a crime has been committed or not." Subpoenas first, crime later.

Aubrey Wieber, executive director of 907 Initiative, a progressive advocacy group, told Alaska Public Media the timing "on the eve of the election" may stem from ulterior motives. "One could say it appears that they are trying to interfere in an election and put their thumb on the scale," she said.

The legal theories on offer are revealing. Hans von Spakovsky, a former Federal Election Commission member, pointed to Jack Smith's 2023 indictment of Trump as precedent, saying charges could rely on conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy against rights. Both parties' prosecutors, it turns out, borrow from the same toolbox.

The Two-Party Squabble Over Who Rigged It

The administration claims Mary Peltola's campaign helped recruit the second Sullivan, a retired teacher from the fishing village of Petersburg, based on New York Times reporting that cited texts, contributions from a political group backing Peltola to an out-of-state Democratic consultant, and her former campaign manager, who later tried to retract her statements. Peltola told supporters she was "so deeply offended" and said, "I'm not out soliciting more competition." Sen. Sullivan told Fox News, "there's no way Peltola doesn't know." Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced a state probe. Trump demanded Peltola be prosecuted.

Strip away the shouting and the structure is plain. Two parties fight over control of a Senate seat that could decide which party runs the chamber. Ballot tricks, consultants, subpoenas and federal lawyers all orbit one prize. The voters in Alaska, who the state says were protected by a ballot that labels the incumbent a Republican and the other man simply "Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.," are treated as marks to be protected or fooled depending on who's talking.

Judge Gleason is expected to rule soon. Election Day is Tuesday.