The US Department of Justice issued subpoenas on Thursday, according to reports, in response to allegations that the campaign of Democratic candidate Mary Peltola collaborated with third parties to bring a challenger with the same name as Republican Senator Dan Sullivan to the ballot.
According to ABC News and the Associated Press, citing sources familiar with the matter, the subpoenas followed a day after The New York Times reported that Peltola’s campaign had led the efforts to recruit a second candidate named Dan Sullivan in the Senate race, which is decided on Tuesday, despite months of denying any involvement.
On the same day the federal subpoenas were issued, Alaska’s Republican Governor Mike Dunleavy announced a criminal investigation into those efforts. According to the Times, the aim was to confuse voters in Alaska who wanted to support the incumbent Republican candidate.
The federal investigation came at a sensitive political moment, weeks before Tuesday’s election. The Department of Justice has historically avoided open investigative actions against candidates immediately before elections, as well as other public steps that could be interpreted as an attempt to influence the political outcome.
Election law experts stated they were unaware of which federal law would justify this investigation. Justin Levitt, a former Department of Justice official in the Joe Biden administration, said: “I don’t know what they are investigating by issuing subpoenas because I don’t know what federal violations are involved, for which the Department of Justice would have jurisdiction.” He added that “it really looks like the purpose of the investigation is to become the main story.”
The information emerged on the same day the Department of Justice issued subpoenas to California officials, representing an escalation of oversight over local election administration. Earlier on Thursday, a federal judge in California appointed a special master to assess the Trump administration’s claims that approximately 20,000 non-citizens are on the state’s voter rolls. That decision was made less than 24 hours after a judge denied the Department of Justice’s request for California to seal ballots while citizenship is verified, a move the department immediately appealed.
The Department of Justice has been investigating for months the claims that Dan J. Sullivan Jr. entered the race to deceive voters and help Peltola’s campaign. The potential targets of the investigation are unclear. Donald Trump called for the criminal prosecution of Peltola and her campaign earlier this week. The race is among a handful of Senate elections this year that will likely determine control of the House of Congress. Trump previously ordered his Department of Justice to file a lawsuit to block the certification of the Senate election if Peltola defeats Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan. That lawsuit is still pending.
