Two Dan Sullivans on One Ballot Is No Accident. Alaskans Deserve the Full Truth Before Tuesday
A governor-ordered investigation, a Justice Department lawsuit and a New York Times account of recruited "spoilers" have turned Alaska's Senate race into a test of whether voters get to choose the candidate they actually mean to choose.
By Clara Hughes
Open an Alaska ballot this year and you will find something no voter should have to puzzle over. Under the U.S. Senate race, one line reads "Sullivan, Daniel J. Jr." with nothing else beside it. Directly below sits "Sullivan, Dan. S." followed by "(Registered Republican, incumbent)." That is how CNBC described the ballot on October 28. Two men, nearly the same name, stacked one on top of the other, four days before Election Day. One of them is Sen. Dan Sullivan, the Republican who has represented Alaska in the Senate. The other is Daniel J. Sullivan, a retired teacher. How the second man came to be there is now the subject of a state investigation, a federal lawsuit and a congressional inquiry. And Alaskans deserve straight answers before they vote, not after. What has actually been reported The facts that started this fight come from The New York Times, as summarized by CNBC and NBC News. The Times reported that people working with Democrat Mary Peltola's campaign, along with senior aides at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, helped recruit Daniel J. Sullivan into the race to draw votes away from the senator. According to NBC News, the Times based its report on interviews with 12