Peltola denies involvement with effort to put candidate with same name as Sen. Sullivan on ballot

Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola denied Thursday that she was aware of an effort to put a candidate on the Alaska ballot with the same name as the Republican incumbent, Sen. Dan Sullvan. 

Peltola gave a speech in a bar in Juneau, Alaska, saying she wanted to "clear the air," the Associated Press reported. 

“I knew nothing about any other candidate on the ballot except for me and the incumbent. That is all I have ever known about. I am not interested in tricking voters," Peltola said. 

Sen. Sullivan is running against Peltola and Dan J. Sullivan. A fresh wave of subpoenas targeting Alaska officials has been issued by the Justice Department in its ongoing criminal probe of Democratic Senate nominee Mary Peltola's campaign for allegedly trying to trick would-be voters for incumbent GOP Sen. Dan S. Sullivan to vote for a spoiler with the same first and last name.

A source familiar with the investigation confirmed the latest development to Just the News, which is based in part on new revelations in The New York Times and other evidence that has surfaced of the Peltola campaign's involvement in recruiting retiree Dan J. Sullivan and Peltola's personal knowledge of the scheme.

The Trump administration filed a lawsuit earlier this month against Alaska and the state's elections officials, arguing that "voter confusion" stemming from the ballot having candidates with the same name could cost the incumbent, Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, his seat to Democrat Mary Peltola. 

GOP Gov. Mike Dunleavy recently ordered a criminal probe into whether Peltola's campaign illegally tampered with the election by recruiting a candidate with the same name to draw votes from incumbent Sullivan.