The Democratic Party claims to defend democracy, but in Alaska, its operatives have been busy cheating the electorate by recruiting a decoy candidate to confuse voters. They deny involvement but have been caught red-handed. Their effort to put a second Dan Sullivan on this year’s Senate ballot exposes the cynicism behind their pro-democracy rhetoric and their practice of turning elections into efforts to con voters. If anything good comes from this deception, let it be the swift and deserved demise of Alaska’s ranked choice voting system and an end to efforts to export it nationwide.
Reporting published Wednesday revealed that aides to Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola worked with campaign lawyers and senior staff at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to recruit candidates who could siphon support from Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK). The effort included searching Alaska’s voter rolls for residents named Dan Sullivan and recruiting a retired teacher with that name, who registered as a Republican shortly before entering the race. Peltola’s former campaign manager said the candidate knew about the operation, although she did not directly orchestrate it.
