Dunleavy Orders Probe of Effort to Place Another Dan Sullivan on Alaska Ballot

Gov. Mike Dunleavy ordered an investigation Oct. 28 into whether Alaska law was broken during an effort to recruit a candidate sharing Senator Dan Sullivan's name for the state's U.S. Senate ballot.

The order followed a New York Times article published the same day. That article reported that Mary Peltola's campaign staff searched voter records for Alaskans named Dan Sullivan and then recruited such a person to enter the race.

The report described interviews with about a dozen people familiar with the activity, along with text messages and documents. It said Peltola's team worked with staff from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and an operative who traveled the state using an assumed name. The Times reported that the Peltola campaign denied recruiting candidates or having involvement with either Sullivan.

The timeline, as described in the Times account: Peltola allegedly directed staff to search voter records for Alaskans named Dan Sullivan during the spring. Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher from Petersburg, entered the race that season. Peltola's former campaign manager, Elisa Rios, told the Times that Peltola was aware of the work but not directly involved. The Alaska Division of Elections examined similar concerns in June, according to Dunleavy.

In a Facebook post dated Oct. 28, Dunleavy wrote that the reporting revealed "disturbing new evidence of an organized effort to manipulate Alaska's elections by recruiting candidates - including one with the same name as an incumbent U.S. Senator - to deliberately confuse voters and misdirect their votes." He directed the Alaska Department of Public Safety to investigate whether the effort violated state laws and whether criminal charges or civil action are warranted.

The governor also stated that "the evidence will determine what happens next" and that "Alaskans have a fundamental right to vote for the candidate they actually intend to support." The article also reported that Senator Sullivan has raised concerns about Peltola avoiding debate invitations.