Alaska Governor Orders Investigation Into Same-Name Senate Candidate
Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy has ordered the state Department of Public Safety to investigate a same-name candidate case involving the state's U.S. Senate race. In Juneau, the state capital in the City and Borough of Juneau in southeastern Alaska, Dunleavy said in a statement that he directed the department to determine whether the reported candidate-recruitment effort violated Alaska law and whether criminal charges or civil action are warranted.
At the center of the case is Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired teacher from Petersburg whose name is nearly identical to that of incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan. According to a New York Times report, people connected to Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola's campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee helped recruit spoiler candidates, including the second Sullivan, to run in the race.
Dunleavy wrote that the Alaska Division of Elections investigated the same concerns in June of this year and that the new reporting substantially supports the division's findings. Alaskans have a fundamental right to vote for the candidate they actually intend to support, he said, adding that deliberately tricking voters into casting ballots for someone else strikes at the integrity of elections and that anyone found to have broken the law must be held accountable.
The Alaska Department of Public Safety confirmed that, at the governor's request, the Alaska Bureau of Investigation has opened an investigation into the conduct alleged in the report. The department gave no further details, citing the active investigation. The state's elections director had earlier tried to remove Daniel J. Sullivan from the ballot over potential voter confusion, but the Alaska Supreme Court ordered him restored to the ballot.
Peltola has denied the allegations, telling supporters in Juneau that she knew nothing about any other candidate effort, and her campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee have also denied involvement. No one has been charged, and the allegations have not been tested in court.
There are federal threads as well: the U.S. Department of Justice has sued to block certification of a Peltola victory until the matter is investigated, and the chairman of the U.S. House Oversight Committee has opened a separate inquiry. Alaska's general election is on November 3, early voting is already under way, and Dunleavy has said whether certification proceeds may depend on what investigators find.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 位于阿拉斯加州朱诺市的阿拉斯加州议会大厦（资料图）。CC BY 2.0，Gillfoto，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The Alaska State Capitol in Juneau, Alaska (file photo). CC BY 2.0, by Gillfoto, via Wikimedia Commons.
