As had been widely known, Democrat Mary Peltola is facing off against the Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan, but the Senate ballot also features another Dan Sullivan, a retired teacher from rural Alaska. The Republicans sued to get the other Dan Sullivan removed from the ballot, but in June the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that two Dan Sullivans running for the same office did not violate Alaska law or the U.S. Constitution. But less than a week before the election, The New York Times reported that the reason the other Sullivan decided to run was because of a Peltola campaign bid to specifically recruit other candidates with that name to enter the race in order to sow voter confusion. The Peltola campaign has denied having any involvement in recruiting Sullivans. āBallot-stacking,ā as the practice is known, is neither unprecedented nor apparently illegal. Still, Alaskaās Republican governor Mike Dunleavy announced an investigation into whether the practice could be a criminal or civil violation. And the Trump administration filed a lawsuit calling on the election to not be certified if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan was not the winner.
Why does it matter? In a close race, even a little voter confusion could prove pivotal.