Feds Sue, Spy and Subpoena Over Two Guys Named Dan

A federal judge in Alaska threw out the Trump administration's lawsuit on Sunday, two days before Election Day, that would have let the Justice Department pre-emptively challenge the results of a Senate race. Chief Judge Sharon Gleason of U.S. District Court said the administration failed to prove its proposed remedy would solve any confusion problems, according to The New York Times. The suit had asked a court to order the state to delay certification if the incumbent loses by a small enough margin that it could be blamed on a candidate with the same name.

Read that again. The government of the most powerful state on earth went to court to ask for permission to freeze an election result it hadn't yet seen, in case the answer displeased the people running the government.

Who Has the Power

The Justice Department filed the suit in federal court 11 days before the Nov. 3 election, according to NewsNation, even though the final ballot had been set months earlier. It also filed a second suit seeking to preserve and segregate ballots ranking Daniel J. Sullivan. Alaska's own Republican-led state government called the suit "meritless" in a Saturday filing and said separating those ballots couldn't happen without compromising voter privacy, calling the proposal "both disturbing and impossible."

Then came the agents. Alaska U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman said at an October 30 press conference that the FBI and Alaska State Troopers were working to ensure votes counted the way voters "meant and intended." He said the federal criminal investigation has been underway for several months and that recent revelations prompted a "significant surge of law enforcement assets to Alaska."

The FBI has begun contacting donors to Daniel J. Sullivan, visiting people in at least two Alaska communities and in Massachusetts. In Petersburg, an Anchorage-based agent showed up at a boat dealership and asked donor Charles Flint's son whether his father had been "misled." Flint, who gave $500, said he hadn't been. He knew who he was backing and planned to rank Peltola first and Daniel J. Sullivan second. In Groton, Massachusetts, agents visited a donor's home and spoke with her husband about potential fraud involving election contributions.

Who Gets Crushed

The people with the least say in any of this are the voters. In an October 31 court filing, the League of Women Voters of Alaska, Common Cause, Risé Roy and Jan Jakub Grzeda warned that sending armed government agents to question voters about how they marked their ballots would be "Orwellian and, indeed, illegal." The filing doesn't say agents have done that yet. It says the possibility is there, and that's the point.

Daniel J. Sullivan, a retired teacher from the small fishing town of Petersburg, says he decided to run on his own. His reward: a federal fishing expedition into his donors' kitchens and a president claiming that "he left the world, and nobody can find him now. So he knows he's guilty."

What They're Calling "Order"

The rhetoric from the top has been something to behold. Sen. Dan Sullivan, the incumbent, told Fox News, "Don't let Peltola and Schumer steal this election," and on CNN said he would accept the results. President Trump called it "voter fraud at the highest level" and said of Democrats, "they should be held criminally responsible." Sen. Tim Scott, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, twice avoided saying whether he'd accept the Alaska results if Peltola is certified. He did say, "it actually is a federal offense to confuse voters." NBC News has previously reported that people who recruited the challenger didn't necessarily violate the law.

The Democrats aren't clean here either. Allegations that Peltola's campaign and allies, including at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, recruited a candidate named Dan Sullivan came from Elisa Rios, Peltola's fired former campaign manager, who confirmed details to The New York Times and later retracted "all statements made." Peltola calls it a smear. The Washington Post reports both parties have tried to game the field; Republicans have boosted spoilers too. A fourth name on the ballot, Gerald Heikes, says he was also recruited by an outsider, and a liberal PAC is promoting him. Scott Kendall, who designed the state's ranked-choice system, called it "just a dirty trick."

The Reform Trap

Now the machine eats its own reform. Organizers of Ballot Measure 2 say the scandal should be ranked-choice voting's death knell; a similar referendum two years ago lost by 737 votes. Gov. Mike Dunleavy ordered a state investigation into Peltola's campaign and told Fox News, "we wouldn't be having this conversation if we didn't have ranked choice voting."

Two parties, one ballot, and a fight over which flavor of managed choice voters get to pick from. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, put it plainly about the suit: "Alaskans don't need any help voting for their preferred candidates." She's right about that much. They didn't need the Justice Department, the FBI, the governor's investigators or a Senate campaign committee. The state's own filing admitted it had already taken steps to reduce confusion. The ballot already tells the two Sullivans apart: one is marked incumbent and Republican, the other has no label at all.