Trump administration widens Alaska election investigation

President Donald Trump's administration expanded its Alaska election inquiry while seeking court action over Senate ballots and certification.

Federal officials said on October 30 that criminal and civil inquiries were examining allegations that Democrats recruited a candidate to divert votes from Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan. The contest could help determine which party controls the Senate, where Republicans hold a narrow majority.

Two Sullivan candidates face scrutiny

US Attorney Michael Heyman, Alaska's chief federal prosecutor, said additional FBI personnel and several prosecutors were working on the investigation. He attributed the increased activity to reporting published on Wednesday but declined to identify the possible offenses under examination.

The allegations concern Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired teacher whose name resembles the incumbent's. Federal investigators are scrutinizing whether his candidacy was intended to confuse voters; the supplied account does not establish that any law was violated.

Democratic candidate Mary Peltola says she knew nothing of an effort to enlist the teacher. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee denies participating, and the teacher denies working with Peltola's campaign.

Encouraging a lesser-known contender to draw support away from an opponent is a tactic both parties have used. That history does not resolve the Alaska allegations, but it makes the distinction between political maneuvering and an identifiable legal violation central to the case.

Certification becomes a federal court issue

The Department of Justice has asked a court to stop Alaska from certifying the Senate result if the incumbent loses because of the additional candidate. In a separate request on Friday, the department sought preservation of potentially affected ballots and assistance obtaining records from the Democratic campaign and other parties.

Those requests seek intervention in different stages of the election: retaining voting evidence, gathering campaign documents and potentially preventing final approval of the result. Neither the requests nor the investigation establishes that voters were deceived or that the additional candidacy changed the outcome.

Trump has publicly called for Peltola's prosecution and said he directed the civil lawsuit filed the previous week. At a Florida rally on Friday, President Trump asserted: "This is voter fraud at the highest level." That allegation remains unproven in the supplied account, and Heyman has not publicly specified a criminal theory.

California ruling limits another ballot challenge

A separate federal election dispute in California produced a setback for the administration on Friday. An appeals court again declined to temporarily prevent the counting of mailed ballots associated with more than 20,000 registered voters whom the administration alleges may not be citizens.

It was the court's second rejection of that request during the week. A lower-court judge had previously found that the proposed restriction risked excluding thousands of eligible voters, underscoring the difference between the administration's citizenship allegations and a judicial finding about voter eligibility.

The legal disputes are unfolding alongside early voting that the University of Florida's Election Lab puts at 49 million ballots, exceeding every previous midterm total. Participation figures, however, do not settle the questions before the courts.

If the Alaska court grants the requested certification restriction, the Senate result could remain unresolved after voting ends. If it declines, the investigation could still continue separately; the unresolved issues are the legal basis for intervention and evidence connecting the additional candidacy to unlawful conduct.