Alaska Governor Orders Criminal Probe After Report on Alleged Senate Ballot Scheme

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has ordered an investigation into an alleged scheme to manipulate the state's U.S. Senate election, following a New York Times report that linked the effort to the campaign team of Rep. Mary Peltola. The report describes the recruitment of a candidate whose name is nearly identical to that of the incumbent Republican senator.

Dunleavy announced the move in a post on X. He said the Times reporting "reveals disturbing new evidence of an organized effort to manipulate Alaska's elections by recruiting candidates," including one who shares a name with an incumbent U.S. senator, in order to "deliberately confuse voters and misdirect their votes."

The governor noted that the Alaska Division of Elections had looked into these same concerns in June of this year, and said the new reporting "substantially supports the Division's findings." He is directing the Department of Public Safety to determine whether the scheme broke state law and whether criminal charges or civil action are warranted. "The evidence will determine what happens next," the Republican governor wrote.

Dunleavy also framed the issue as one of voter rights. "Alaskans have a fundamental right to vote for the candidate they actually intend to support," he said, adding that anyone or any organization found to have broken the law must be held accountable.

The ballot in Alaska's ranked-choice Senate contest includes incumbent Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan. It also lists Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr., a retired teacher with no party affiliation.

The Times article, titled "Inside Democrats' Secret Effort to Stack Alaska's Ballot," says its reporting found that Peltola's team worked with people who were trying to recruit Daniel J. Sullivan to run for Senate. According to the paper, the effort went further than that. The group allegedly worked to draw other would-be spoilers into the race to dilute the incumbent's support and help the Democrat win.

The matter has already reached federal court. On Oct. 22, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit seeking to delay certification of the result if Sen. Dan S. Sullivan loses and votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan could have changed the outcome. The delay would last pending an investigation into whether voters mistakenly selected the wrong candidate.

In an interview with Sean Hannity on Wednesday night, Sen. Sullivan criticized his opponent. "This is what happens when you have a candidate like Peltola, far left, who's got nothing to run on," he said. He added that "even today, she has not apologized. Even today, she's kind of playing as if nothing happened."

Peltola's campaign has denied involvement. In a statement to the Times, it said: "The Alaskans for Mary campaign has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign and did not recruit any candidates into the race." The campaign did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment on Thursday.