Alaska Governor Says Election Certification Could Be Halted Amid Peltola Campaign Probe

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy says the state could stop or change the certification of its U.S. Senate results if the investigation into Democrat Mary Peltola's campaign finds illegal conduct, days before the Nov. 3 election. He made the remarks Oct. 29 in an interview with NewsNation, a day after he ordered the probe.

"We are going to investigate it, we're going to follow the law and if we conclude that there were things that should not have happened, let me put it that way, that are illegal, we will act on that," Dunleavy said. "And that may, in fact, impact whether somebody is seated in the U.S. Senate." He added that "if that means that the certification then is stopped or changed, then that's what happens."

NewsNation's Blake Burman noted that Alaska's elections director certifies the race, after which the governor sends a separate certification to the U.S. Senate. Dunleavy would not say whether he would send it if Peltola wins, saying he needs more information first, and he said that finishing the probe before Election Day would be difficult.

The Alaska Department of Public Safety said Oct. 29 that, at the governor's request, the Alaska Bureau of Investigation has opened an investigation into the conduct alleged in a New York Times report. That report says Peltola advisers and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee aides helped recruit a second Dan Sullivan, a retiree from Petersburg, to run against Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, as we reported Oct. 29 and in an earlier post. The department gave no further details, citing the active investigation.

Peltola denies knowing of any such effort. She told supporters in Juneau that she "knew nothing about any other candidate" on the ballot besides herself and the incumbent. Her campaign and the DSCC deny the allegations, which are Dunleavy's and the Times' and have not been proven.

The name was an issue before the Times report. In June, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom opened an investigation into whether Daniel J. Sullivan's filing was made to confuse voters, and the Division of Elections removed him from the ballot. The Alaska Supreme Court ordered him back on June 29, with Chief Justice Susan Carney calling removal "the most extreme remedy possible," KTOO reported The court sent the question of how his name appears back to the division.

A federal case is running alongside. The Justice Department sued Oct. 22 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska to stop Alaska from declaring any winner but Sen. Sullivan until the matter is investigated. Alaska's attorneys told Judge Sharon Gleason the complaint "has no legal basis," per Alaska's News Source, and the state asked for a ruling before Election Day.

Alaska's elections director certifies the result, and the governor then sends his own certification to the Senate. Dunleavy has now said that the second step could depend on what his investigators find.