Feds Swarm Alaska Over a Ballot Name Before Election Day

U.S. Attorney for Alaska Michael Heyman stood at a podium in Anchorage on Friday, four days before Election Day, and announced a surge of FBI resources aimed at a retired school teacher. "We will not let anyone or any group undermine this election," Heyman said. "There is both a civil investigation and a criminal investigation that is ongoing. There is a surge of FBI resources and resources in this office."

The teacher's crime, as far as the public record shows, is having the same name as an incumbent senator. He's listed on the ballot as Daniel J. Sullivan. The incumbent is Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. Asked what criminal statute might have been violated, Heyman declined to say. "Because this is an ongoing investigative matter, we can't discuss the specifics of those investigative steps, and who or may or may not be involved," he said.

Who Has the Power

The Justice Department has issued at least three dozen new subpoenas and document preservation requests as of Thursday, including subpoenas sent to the campaign offices of Democratic nominee Mary Peltola and of Dan J. Sullivan. That's the apparatus doing what it does: pulling every lever at once when the outcome of a Senate seat is in doubt.

The civil suit, filed Oct. 23, eight days before today, is one President Donald Trump said he had requested. It asks U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason to block state election officials from immediately certifying the Senate election if Sen. Sullivan loses by a margin that might be attributable to voter confusion. In other words, the department wants the power to freeze the result if the incumbent comes up short.

Late Friday, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward asked the court to order state officials to "preserve and segregate all ballots ranking Daniel J. Sullivan." The filing did not spell out a process for ballot review or explain how reviewing a ballot would show whether a voter was confused. It asked for an order before Monday.

Trump told a Kansas City talk radio host that he doesn't know whether Sen. Sullivan can win. "I don't know how he can win here because you're splitting up the vote illegally," Trump said. "I think it's a total fraud."

Who Gets Crushed

It's the voters whose ballots are about to be set aside in a box for federal inspection. Their rankings, marked in private, may become evidence in a federal probe of whether they understood what they were doing. Nobody has explained how anyone would determine that from a piece of paper.

The state's election officials say the suit "rests on the same meritless theory that the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) — a voter registration law — governs this case, which has nothing to do with voter registration." Peltola's campaign says the U.S. Constitution leaves the regulation of federal elections exclusively to the States and to Congress, and that the Justice Department "has no statutory authority to bring this case."

What They're Calling "Order"

The DSCC says it was "not involved with Dan J. Sullivan." Peltola has denied any involvement in Sullivan's campaign. The Times report that triggered Friday's escalation claims aides to Peltola's campaign and senior aides at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee helped recruit the teacher. Two parties, two denials, and a federal prosecutor who says the probe has been running for months and only accelerated after a newspaper story.

Heyman had recused himself because he was being considered for a judicial nomination. The recusal was rescinded Thursday because he was no longer under consideration. Then came the press conference.

Sen. Sullivan, meanwhile, spent the week coaching his own voters on how to game the system. "Rank me first, Sullivan, Dan S. Registered Republican incumbent," he told Fox News' Sean Hannity. "Rank the other Republican second, [Gerald] Heikes. Rank, I hate to say it, Sean, but in our screwed-up system, you rank the fake guy third, and then of course blank. Do not rank Peltola."

There it is, plain as day: both major parties maneuvering inside a ranked-choice system, and the stakes are control of a chamber where Republicans hold 53 of 100 seats. Alaska voters will also decide next week whether to repeal ranked choice voting itself. NBC News' Kristen Welker wrote that it could be several weeks before the outcome is known.

Nobody asked the voters whether they wanted federal agents inspecting their ballots. They'll find out on Tuesday.