WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has dramatically escalated its investigation into the Alaska Senate race and will issue dozens of new grand jury subpoenas on Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter.
The subpoenas will seek information about efforts to recruit a candidate with the same name as incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan.
The escalation comes in the wake of a damning New York Times report about the scheme, which was reported to involve Democratic campaign officials. Democratic candidate Mary Peltola was also aware of the efforts, the report said.
The Times report contained details and information the Justice Department had not seen, officials said, resulting in a flurry of activity on their end.
Now prosecutors are exploring whether to bring charges alleging a conspiracy to violate voters’ rights, according to a DOJ official.
It’s unclear who will receive the subpoenas and how many will be sent.
And there are other investigations in progress.
The department, at President Trump’s direction, filed a civil lawsuit last week seeking to stop the state from certifying the results of the election should Sen. Sullivan lose with a “decoy” candidate known as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. on the ballot.
Additionally, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, ordered a state investigation into the same allegations.
“Deliberately tricking voters into casting their ballots for someone else strikes at the integrity of our elections,” he said.
Alaska’s Senate race is one of the most competitive in the nation with both parties seeing it as key to controlling the Senate next year.
In the wake of the new report on the recruitment effort, President Trump called on Peltola to drop out of the race and be criminally prosecuted.
Her campaign has denied involvement with the scheme.
Alaskan officials sought to minimize confusion by labeling Sen. Sullivan as the incumbent as well as putting the candidates’ initials.
Peltola is the only Democrat on the four-person ballot after a successful pressure campaign by Democrats resulted in candidate David Leslie, who ran as a Democrat and originally made the top four, to drop out.
The winner on Nov. 3 will be determined through ranked-choice voting.
