The Justice Department has issued a new wave of subpoenas as part of a criminal investigation into alleged efforts to recruit a candidate with the same name as Alaska’s Republican Senator Dan Sullivan.
The subpoenas are understood to target Democratic officials believed to be connected to attempts to place Daniel J. Sullivan, a retired teacher, on the ballot. No one involved in the Senate race has been charged with a crime.
Mary Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee have denied any involvement in the recruitment effort. Daniel S. Sullivan has previously said he is genuinely interested in standing for election.
A Justice Department official told reporters that there had been a “significant increase in activity” around the Alaska race in the previous 24 hours. The comments followed a report detailing internal emails and text messages linked to the alleged effort.
The official said such communications could broaden the government’s criminal investigation, as investigators often struggle to obtain private messages without search warrants or voluntary co-operation. Possible steps include asking technology companies to preserve data, seeking warrants for electronic communications and issuing grand jury subpoenas for documents or testimony.
Prosecutors are considering whether federal civil rights laws could apply. The official identified Section 241, which prohibits conspiracies to interfere with federally protected rights including voting rights, and Section 242, which concerns the wilful deprivation of rights under colour of law.
The department may also examine whether there was a co-ordinated attempt to mislead voters into selecting the wrong candidate. However, the official acknowledged that investigators were not aware of any confirmed case in which an Alaska voter had mistakenly voted for Daniel J. Sullivan rather than the Republican incumbent.
“I think I’ve not heard of that, but it’s hard to tell exactly,” the official said when asked whether voters had reported confusion or tried to correct their ballots.
Alaska Senate race lawsuit expanded
The criminal inquiry is running alongside a civil lawsuit brought by the Trump administration, which seeks to prevent Alaska from certifying the Senate election result in certain circumstances if Senator Sullivan loses.
The Justice Department amended the case to include allegations from the reporting about efforts by people associated with Ms Peltola’s campaign to find candidates who could draw votes away from Mr Sullivan. The amended filing describes the alleged activity as a “conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the electoral process”.
It argues that Daniel J. Sullivan’s candidacy breaches the National Voter Registration Act and adds a claim under the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, seeking court intervention to allow the federal government to enforce the law and prevent the alleged conspiracy.
Daniel J. Sullivan’s candidacy had previously been challenged by Alaska election officials but was ultimately approved by the state’s Supreme Court. State officials have asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that election administration is a state responsibility.
Justice Department officials have described the civil case as an effort to preserve the government’s ability to challenge the result if necessary. One official called it “much more than a preservation suit”, arguing that determining whether individual voters were confused would become harder once ballots had been counted and separated from their envelopes.
The department also wants to establish what Ms Peltola’s campaign knew about the alleged recruitment operation and when campaign officials may have become aware of it.
Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy has ordered a separate state investigation into whether the alleged recruitment effort breached state law and whether criminal or civil action should follow.
President Donald Trump has called for Ms Peltola and Daniel J. Sullivan to be removed from the ballot. Asked about the Justice Department’s lawsuit last week, he said: “Well, I’m the one that said, ‘Do it.’”
