Alaska, California ballot fights heat up in US midterms

The Trump administration has pressed a criminal investigation in to Alaska's pivotal US Senate race and said it would likely take its fight over thousands of California postal ballots to ⁠the Supreme Court, as the midterm campaign for control of Congress entered its final weekend.

In Alaska, federal prosecutors are investigating whether aides to Democratic challenger Mary Peltola helped to recruit a retired schoolteacher, Daniel J Sullivan Jr, to run because his name is similar to the Republican incumbent, Senator Dan S Sullivan.

The closely contested race is seen as crucial to Democrats’ hopes of taking the Senate in Tuesday’s vote.

It is one of 35 Senate races, along with all 435 House seats, that will decide whether President Donald Trump’s Republicans keep control of Congress for his final two years in office.

Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate majority and a narrow edge in the House.

Early voting has set a record. More than 51 million Americans have already cast ballots in person or by post, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab, up from nearly 46 million who voted before election day at the last midterms in 2022.

In California, a federal appeals court this week ruled 2-1 that the Justice Department had failed to justify its emergency bid to force the state to set aside postal ballots from more than 20,000 registered voters it alleges are likely non citizens.

"I hesitate to give a final answer, but I think probably the Supreme ‌Court’s next on this one," acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter told ⁠Fox News yesterday, adding that any request for Supreme Court consideration would come before Tuesday’s election.

Newsom asks US judges to resist Trump attempts to seize ballots

California Governor Gavin Newsom has warned federal courts to be ready for potential attempts by the Trump administration to seize ⁠ballots.

Separately, a federal judge ‌ordered the Justice ⁠Department to stop threatening to prosecute state and local election officials in California who refuse to comply with the administration's election-related demands.

"Given the United States Department of Justice's persistence in advancing this baseless theory of criminal liability, I have grave concerns federal agents ‌will seek search warrants to seize ballots and ballot materials before the election results are certified," Mr Newsom wrote in a letter to federal judges.

The only reason to use search warrants would be ‌to interfere in the state's "lawful counting of ballots and certifying the results ⁠of the ‌election," he added.

Mr Trump has been on a campaign blitz in multiple states over the past month but spent yesterday at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. He returns to the campaign trail today in Kansas and Iowa.

Alaska probe intensifies

The Justice Department's top prosecutor in Alaska, US Attorney Michael Heyman, said at a Friday press conference that a recent New York Times article, saying there had been an effort to recruit Daniel J Sullivan Jr., had driven a "surge" of FBI resources onto the case.

Mr Heyman said he had assigned several prosecutors to it and that investigative steps were taking place "intensely and swiftly."

Ms Peltola and the campaign committee have denied involvement in any effort to ‌recruit the second Sullivan. The retired teacher has denied coordinating with Ms Peltola's campaign.

Voters in Alaska have largely dismissed the fight over the ballot.

"I knew which Dan Sullivan was which Dan Sullivan, you know? It's very clear on the ballot," said one Anchorage resident as he stood outside a polling place yesterday.

But another Anchorage ⁠voter said she was disappointed by the entire situation and the possibility it "muddies the water for some voters, potentially."

Michigan rift

In Michigan, where Democrat Abdul El-Sayed faces Republican Mike Rogers in another closely watched ‌Senate race, Mr El-Sayed’s feud with the rival he beat in the primary, US Representative Haley Stevens, flared again.

Mr El-Sayed’s campaign asked Mr Stevens to skip his events until election day so as "not to distract ‌from the central issues of the campaign," a person familiar with the matter said.

Mr Stevens has backed Mr El-Sayed but demanded he condemn an outside group’s ad blaming Israel for high grocery prices and apologise for past rhetoric about Israel.

"It’s certainly unhelpful to the El-Sayed campaign to have continued visible division within the party just before election day," said Matt Grossmann, a political scientist at Michigan State University. Polls show Mr El-Sayed has largely consolidated Democratic support.

The Trump administration, beyond its bid to block the counting of ballots from more than 20,000 ⁠California voters it alleges could be non citizens, has sued roughly 30 states and the District of Columbia seeking unredacted voter rolls.

The legal manoeuvers have alarmed state election officials. Under the Constitution, states have primary authority over how elections are run.

However, 76% of US voters are confident their ballots will be counted accurately, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted from 30 September to 5 October, with confidence about equally high among Republicans and ‌Democrats.