Court keeps ‘Decoy Dan’ on Alaska ballot as expert warns ranked-choice system creates voter ‘traps’
Alaska’s highest court ruled that a same-name Republican challenger to Sen. Dan Sullivan can remain on the ballot, a decision an election expert says exposes glaring flaws in Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system and top-four primary.
The Alaska Supreme Court ruled Monday that Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher, is eligible to appear on the Republican primary ballot alongside incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan, affirming a lower court's decision keeping him on the ballot despite Republicans and the Division of Elections arguing that Dan J. Sullivan’s candidacy is a "sham" attempt orchestrated by Democratic operatives to potentially trip up voters and siphon off votes from the incumbent.
"It very clearly is an attempt to mislead voters," Jason Snead, executive director of the Honest Elections Project, told Fox News Digital. "When you look at the facts, they've been pretty clearly established."
Snead pointed to Alaska’s ranked choice voting (RCV) and jungle primary as especially vulnerable to any nefarious tactics with same-name candidates because, unlike a traditional partisan primary, Alaska advances the top four finishers from a single primary election to the general election, regardless of party.
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Snead argued that under a conventional Republican primary, a candidate he described as a "decoy" would be unlikely to eliminate a legitimate contender before the general election.
Instead, he said, voters face a crowded top-four primary ballot in this year's Alaska Senate race, roughly 16 candidates are running, and confusion over nearly identical names could have significant consequences.
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"You've really got two problems in one," Snead said. "You don't have any party primary. There's no Republican nominee or Democratic nominee. You have this jungle primary where everybody runs together, and the top four candidates advance to the general election."
Snead argued that under a traditional partisan primary, a candidate he described as a decoy would have little chance of preventing a legitimate Republican nominee from advancing to the general election. Instead, he said, Alaska's crowded all-party primary creates more opportunities for voter confusion.
"If enough of them pick the wrong Dan Sullivan, then he makes it into the general," Snead said. "Now you've got two people named Dan Sullivan on the ballot."
Snead said the ranked-choice system can compound the problem because ballots are redistributed as candidates are eliminated.
"If you only rank one person, then your ballot is eliminated if that person is eliminated," he said.
He said another possibility is that voters could mistakenly rank the wrong Dan Sullivan first and Democrat Mary Peltola second, causing those votes to transfer to Peltola if the decoy candidate is eliminated during tabulation.
"There are lots of different traps here," Snead said. "At a minimum, I think this speaks to the fact that ranked-choice voting plus jungle primaries is especially vulnerable to these sorts of games."
"It is definitely not an idea that is ready for prime time, no matter what the people that push ranked choice are trying to sell us on."
The Alaska Supreme Court did stipulate that election officials could add additional identifying information to the ballot to distinguish between the two candidates, leaving those design decisions to the Division of Elections.
Dan J. Sullivan, known to his critics as "Decoy Dan," has come under scrutiny over ties to Democratic consultant Amber Lee, who was revealed as the author of his campaign launch announcement in metadata reviewed by Fox News Digital. Lee has notably supported Peltola’s prior runs for office and expressed optimism to The Hill in January that the Alaska Democrat would unseat the incumbent Sullivan.
According to Alaska Director of Elections Carol Beecher, Dan J. Sullivan requested to appear on the primary ballot under the name "Dan Sullivan" despite previously registering as "Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr." Beecher also noted that his campaign materials are visually similar to the incumbent Republican's campaign and that he had no affiliation with the GOP prior to jumping into the race shortly before the filing deadline.
The fate of his candidacy could prove decisive in the state’s hotly contested Senate race in which Sen. Dan S. Sullivan is seeking a third term in the Republican-leaning state. Democrats are hoping that former Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, whom Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., helped recruit into the race, will unseat Sullivan in November.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Dan J. Sullivan's campaign said, "Mr. Sullivan has been buoyed by yesterday’s decisive victory at the Alaska Supreme Court. To the extent that the Division of Elections is still grappling with how it will properly effectuate ballot design in a manner consistent with Alaska law and past practice, he has no comment, and looks forward to running his campaign."
Fox News Digital’s Adam Pack contributed to this report.