Peltola denies knowledge of alleged plot to put second Dan Sullivan on Alaska Senate ballot

On Thursday, speaking to voters in Alaska, Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola tried to put a rumor to rest. She said she knew of no one on the ballot other than herself and the incumbent, and that she had no interest in tricking anyone. Her words were aimed at an allegation that has turned one of the closest Senate races in the country into a federal matter.

The allegation is that Democrats tried to engineer confusion by getting a second Dan Sullivan into the contest. The incumbent Republican is Senator Dan S Sullivan. The other man on the ballot is Dan J Sullivan, a retired teacher who lives in a remote fishing village. Both have been running for the open seat for some time, but the controversy broke earlier this week when The New York Times reported that people connected to Peltola's campaign, along with senior aides at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, worked to recruit him. The paper said it had seen text messages and interviewed 12 people who took part in the plan, were told of it, or were would-be candidates the team also approached. The BBC has not independently verified that reporting.

The Peltola campaign has denied the reports, and Dan J Sullivan has denied any link to her campaign. The incumbent and his allies have accused Democrats of trying to confuse voters. Alaska's Republican Governor Mike Dunleavy ordered an official inquiry earlier this week.

The federal government has moved quickly. According to CBS News, the BBC's US news partner, the Justice Department has begun issuing subpoenas to Democratic officials allegedly tied to the recruitment effort. At a Friday afternoon press conference, Michael Heyman, the US attorney for the district of Alaska, said both a civil and a criminal investigation were ongoing. He did not immediately specify which crimes his office would examine. As of Friday evening, no charges had been filed.

Later that day, lawyers for the Trump administration asked a federal judge to rule before Monday on an order directing state election officials to preserve and segregate all ballots that rank Dan J Sullivan. Alaska uses ranked-choice voting, so a voter unsure at the ballot box could rank both Sullivans. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward wrote in court documents that the step would help determine whether such a ranking was the product of voter confusion, should an investigation become necessary. He argued that these modest precautions would be impossible after Election Day, which he said justified expedited consideration.

The administration had already filed a federal lawsuit last week seeking to block certification of the result if the Trump-backed Sullivan loses, arguing that two identically named candidates could confuse voters. On Wednesday the department amended that suit to cite large sections of the Times story and Dunleavy's announcement. A federal judge has expedited the matter and will weigh motions to dismiss brought by Alaska election officials, backed by the Peltola campaign and voting rights groups.

Legal experts are skeptical about the criminal angle. Scott Kendall, an attorney who worked on Senator Lisa Murkowski's 2010 and 2016 campaigns, told the BBC he doubted the conduct described in the Times broke the law. Alaska has no specific good-faith requirement for candidates, he said, and spoiler candidates sometimes appear in its races. "I freely admit there could be more facts, but I'm not going to speculate they exist," he said. Kendall and other experts said federal crimes could come into play if there were evidence of campaign finance violations, but none has emerged. He saw the main risk to Peltola as reputational harm.

The stakes are high. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the race a toss-up, and it could decide control of the Senate. President Donald Trump will hold back-to-back rallies in Kansas and Iowa on Sunday; a source familiar with the planning told the BBC they were rescheduled to accommodate his remote appearances at tele-rallies. The next marker is the judge's ruling on the ballot-preservation request, expected before Monday.