US Department: Criminal investigation into Alaska election
The US Department of Justice has confirmed a criminal investigation into attempted voter deception in the Alaska Senate election. “When credible information comes to light, we are committed to pursuing those leads,” Alaska federal prosecutor Michael Heyman said at a news conference. It’s about suspicion of deceiving voters. When asked, he did not want to explain exactly what crimes were being investigated.
The case involves two candidates running for the U.S. Senate with nearly identical names: incumbent Dan S. Sullivan and political newcomer Dan J. Sullivan. The Republicans have long suspected the Democrats of using the risk of confusion to weaken the incumbent – even if challenger Dan J. Sullivan is not running for the Democrats. They have not yet provided any evidence.
However, the New York Times recently reported that allies of Democratic candidate Mary Peltola were specifically looking for a namesake of the incumbent in order to reduce his chances of success. According to the newspaper, Peltola’s campaign team denies any involvement in his candidacy.
US President Donald Trump had previously instructed the Federal Ministry of Justice to file a lawsuit against the state. This is intended to prevent confirmation of the election results if the Republican incumbent is missing votes due to a name mix-up. There was a lot of criticism of the move because it was seen as interference by the US government in the elections in the state.
