DOJ asks federal judge to separate certain ballots in Alaska Senate race, halt certification

The Justice Department asked a federal judge Friday to issue a preliminary injunction that halts the certification of the Alaska election results if a specific candidate loses, and to separate certain ballots to investigate potential voter confusion. The requests are the latest update in the Alaska saga, which comes after DOJ’s top prosecutor in the state confirmed that a criminal investigation into the scandal is ongoing. 
The New York Times reported this week that Alaska Senate Democratic nominee Mary Peltola’s campaign helped recruit a retiree named Dan J. Sullivan to run against Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan in next week’s elections.
The department asked the court to make its decision about separating the ballots by Monday, one day before the election is scheduled to take place. The department claimed in the filing that there is a “substantial risk” that Dan J. Sullivan’s candidacy “will mislead voters and ultimately result in an electoral process that lacks integrity.”
“To guard against this danger, the United States seeks an order directing Defendants to preserve and segregate all ballots ranking Daniel J. Sullivan for the purposes of investigating whether such ranking was the product of voter confusion, should such an investigation become necessary,” the filing reads, according to the Associated Press. 
The department also asked a federal court to expedite the sharing of “internal and external conversations” from Peltola’s campaign “regarding its efforts to recruit Daniel J. Sullivan to run for office.” 
Another filing asks for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s internal and external conversations regarding its alleged efforts to recruit Dan J. Sullivan.
The updates come a day after Peltola denied that she had any knowledge of the effort to put the other Dan Sullivan on the ballot.
“I just want to clear the air,” she said. “I knew nothing about any other candidate on the ballot except for me and the incumbent. That is all I have ever known about. I am not interested in tricking voters.”
Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.

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