The Trump administration asked a federal judge Friday to issue an order by Monday directing Alaska election officials to separate all ballots ranking Senate candidate Dan J. Sullivan as it continues its investigation into his candidacy.
Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward wrote in a court filing that state officials should “preserve and segregate all ballots ranking Daniel J. Sullivan for the purpose of investigating whether such ranking was the product of voter confusion, should such an investigation be necessary.”
“These modest precautionary measures will be impossible after Election Day, so there is good reason to review them quickly,” he added.
The filing did not explain the ballot review process or explain how reviewing a ballot would show whether a voter was confused about candidate rankings. Alaska uses ranked-choice voting and four Senate candidates are on the ballot.
The Trump administration has stepped up its efforts to get involved in Alaska’s elections, which by law are run by state officials, after The New York Times reported this week that Democrat Mary Peltola’s campaign was involved in recruiting Dan J. Sullivan, a former school teacher, to run against Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan. Peltola has denied any involvement in Sullivan’s campaign.
Woodward, alongside Alaska’s top federal prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman, filed three more briefs Friday in the civil case the administration is pursuing in hopes of stopping Alaska from certifying the Senate election results.
In one filing, prosecutors requested expedited sharing of Peltola’s campaign’s “internal and external conversations” “regarding its efforts to recruit Daniel J. Sullivan to run for office.” Another filing requests “the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s internal and external conversations regarding its efforts to recruit Daniel J. Sullivan to run for office.”
The DSCC said it was “not involved with Dan J. Sullivan.”
An additional filing seeks a preliminary injunction in the case.
The documents filed Friday came shortly after Heyman held a news conference in Alaska, during which he acknowledged the existence of a parallel criminal case.
Asked what potential crimes prosecutors are investigating, Heyman declined to provide details.
“As this is an ongoing investigative matter, we cannot discuss the details of these investigative steps, or who may or may not be involved,” he said. “This protects the integrity of the investigation and protects those who may be the subject or target of these investigations.”
Heyman cited a recent New York Times article, saying “the new information has led to a significant increase in law enforcement resources in Alaska.”
The Justice Department on Thursday issued at least three dozen new subpoenas and document preservation requests, including subpoenas sent to the campaign offices of Peltola and Dan J. Sullivan.
President Donald Trump, who has called for legal action against Peltola and the second Sullivan, said Friday morning that he did not know whether Sen. Dan S. Sullivan could win with the current vote.
“I’ll tell you, he’s a great senator, and what they tried to do, and he would have, you know, he would have won,” Trump said in an interview with Kansas City radio host Pete Mundo. “I don’t know how he can win here because you’re illegally splitting votes. I think it’s a total fraud.”
Trump has repeatedly said Dan J. Sullivan should be removed from the ballot.
In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity earlier this week, Senator Sullivan told his supporters in Alaska how to mark up their ballots to best help him on Election Day.
“So rank me first, Sullivan, Dan S. Registered Republican incumbent. That’s what the ballot says,” he said. “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 empty. Don’t rank Peltola. That’s the screwed-up system we have.”
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