US investigates potential voter confusion in Alaska Senate race

The US justice department has widened a months-long investigation into potential voter confusion in the Alaskan Senate race that centres on a candidate who shares a name with the Republican incumbent. This as the two parties continue on their final stretches of rallying days before the midterm elections.

The Associated Press reports nearly 10 million more Americans have casted their ballots compared to the same period in the 2022 midterms.

Faced with tense voter anxiety, Donald Trump tells his supporters at a rally in Daytona Beach in Florida on Friday that the upcoming vote is the "most important midterm elections ever."

Just an hour later, former US President Bill Clinton also delivers a fiery address to Democrats on a stage in Tupelo and quotes words by his friend George Bush, a Republican, that "Democracy is self-correcting," asking the Mississippi crowd to vote for Democratic Senate candidate Scott Colom.

The duel campaigns come as US Attorney Michael Heyman in Alaska confirms a probe into Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola's campaign which is alleged to be recruiting Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. to run alongside her Republican rival, two-term Senator Dan Sullivan.

Heyman says authorities are committed to protecting the integrity of the election.

"We are aware of the recent New York Times reporting regarding the Peltola campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee that they orchestrated a sprawling conspiracy to recruit and prop up Daniel J. Sullivan as a sham candidate, and we are taking that extremely seriously."

He says, "Federal and state law enforcement, including both the Alaska State Troopers on my right and the FBI on my left, are working to make sure that your vote counts in a way that you meant and intended it to count."

Separately, the Justice Department says it has asked a judge to order that state officials isolate ballots ranking Daniel J. Sullivan in order to test the level of confusion among voters.

The department also files with the court a list of proposed questions it seeks to compel the Peltola campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to answer.

From his Florida rally, Trump seizes on the probe to blast Democrats' attempt to steal a seat in the Senate.

Trump earlier urged criminal prosecution of Peltola following the revelations.

Peltola, however, denies any personal knowledge or involvement in the ballot-rigging operation.

During a rally in Anchorage, she says she's offended by these accusations and calls them garbage and a smear campaign.

Peltola reportedly celebrates the independent streak of Alaskan voters that she says she's trying to appeal to in this final stretch of the campaign.

AP reporter Joshua Goodman says, "She said she doesn't need any help to defeat Dan Sullivan, that she's got this race and basically, seemed very confident heading into the weekend."