Alaska Governor Investigates Ballot Stacking in Senate Race

Governor Mike Dunleavy launched an investigation into allegations that Democrats recruited a second candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan to appear on the ballot and confuse voters in the Senate race between incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola. Dunleavy warned that the certification of the election results could be "stopped or changed" if the investigation reveals wrongdoing.

Parallel to the state investigation, the Trump administration and the United States Department of Justice filed a preemptive lawsuit to block the certification of the results if the incumbent Sullivan loses. The federal lawsuit argues that the presence of two candidates with the same name creates voter confusion.

Election results in Alaska are expected to be slow due to the state's remote geography and the use of ranked-choice voting, which can take up to two weeks to finalize if no candidate secures a first-round majority. While Republicans have questioned whether Peltola should be seated if she wins, legal experts suggest that any attempt by the governor to block certification would likely be overturned by the courts.