Alaska Governor Calls Voting System 'Very Confusing' as Senate Race Remains Frozen

Republican Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy has admitted that his own state's voting system is 'very confusing', warning that the close race between Democratic Senate nominee Mary Peltola and incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan may not be decided for days, if not weeks.

Speaking on WABC Radio's 'The Cats Roundtable' on Sunday, Dunleavy said, 'It's very close, the numbers.' He said the key dates for ballot dumps will be Friday, November 13, and Wednesday, November 18, when 'another big batch of votes will come in' and determine who holds the lead.

'It's a slow system up here in Alaska,' he admitted. 'We've got quite an issue up here.'

Peltola, currently with 48.17 percent support, leads by just 637 votes. No new vote tallies have arrived for days under Alaska's ranked-choice voting system.

Election Day was Tuesday, November 3. If no candidate gets 50 percent support as the first choice by November 25, the results will go to further rounds of ranked-choice voting based on second and third choices.

'It is very confusing,' Dunleavy said. He noted that the question of repealing the voting scheme, which was put in place just a couple of years ago, was also on the ballot. 'No' votes against repeal lead very narrowly at 51.85 percent. That decision, too, remains undecided a week after the polls closed.

Dunleavy said, 'We're still in the process of bringing in votes and counting votes.' He added that investigations are under way to determine whether there was any wrongdoing, including anything that might resemble perjury or misrepresentation of a person's intent in placing their candidacy on the ballot.

The governor denounced what he called the 'Decoy Dan' scheme, in which a man named Daniel J. Sullivan was put on the ballot, allegedly to siphon votes from the Republican incumbent. Dunleavy claimed the other Sullivan even allegedly tried to get on the general election ballot as Daniel S. Sullivan, using the middle initial of the incumbent instead of his own.

Dunleavy said that when the matter came to light, the division of elections began an investigation. The division decided at the time that the candidacy was not legitimate and did not put him on the ballot. A court case followed, and the Supreme Court ultimately ruled against the division of elections, saying he must go on the ballot.

After a New York Times report raised the possibility that Peltola's campaign knew about the 'Decoy Dan' scheme, Dunleavy reopened the investigation into wrongdoing.

He said that once the New York Times article came out, the investigation began again in Alaska, and the Department of Justice did the same, so the investigation is going on right in the middle of an election.