Justice Department seeks to isolate Alaska ballots amid criminal probe over Senate candidate

Department of Justice pushed Friday for a court order to isolate certain Alaska ballots to investigate potential voter confusion, while federal officials confirmed the existence of a criminal probe over a Senate candidate who shares a name with the Republican incumbent. The dueling developments came days before Tuesday's ranked choice general election, in a race headlined by two-term Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and Democratic former U.S.

The race is among a handful nationwide expected to determine control of the Senate. Attorney Michael Heyman told reporters in Anchorage that the investigation has been ongoing for several months, but recent revelations from The New York Times that Peltola's campaign appeared to be involved in recruiting retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan have resulted in a "significant surge of law enforcement assets to Alaska." Separately, the Justice Department — as part of a lawsuit it filed last week — asked a judge to order that state elections officials isolate ballots ranking Dan J.

Sullivan to investigate potential voter "confusion" with the senator. The owner of a boat dealership in the candidate's hometown of Petersburg who had donated to his campaign told The that an FBI agent visited the business and wanted to know whether he had been misled by Dan J. He said he had not and that "Everybody knows who the incumbent is." Alaska Assistant U.S.

Bryan Wilson, in a filing, said the government "seeks to preserve and segregate all ballots ranking Daniel J. Sullivan for the purposes of investigating whether such ranking was the product of voter confusion, should such an investigation become necessary." The Department of Justice also filed with the court a list of proposed questions it seeks to compel the Peltola campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to answer as part of the civil case seeking to block certification of the Senate race if the incumbent loses. President Donald Trump has said he told the department to file the case.

Peltola denied Thursday that she knew anything about the effort to put Dan J. Sullivan on the ballot: "I am not interested in tricking voters," she said. Democrats, including the DSCC, have repeatedly denied that they were involved in any campaign trick.

Sullivan has long denied he was running at Democrats' behest. The request to segregate the ballots in Alaska comes after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Justice Department's request for California to set aside disputed ballots received in the midterm election sent to some 20,000 people the administration contends may not be U.S. citizens.