When the Justice Department sued Alaska over its manipulated Senate ballot, liberal shrieks could initially be heard up to the Arctic. They’re fading now, after the New York Times on Wednesday published evidence that Democrats rigged Alaska’s ranked-choice ballot with a decoy candidate who threatens to deny Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan re-election.

Yet while exposing the deceit is helpful, it’s no remedy. Hurdle upon hurdle has been stacked against Alaskans’ ability to have a clear and fair vote: False-flag candidates, a Rube Goldberg ballot, deceptive electioneering. Court action may be the only remedy.

Here’s what we knew up to Wednesday: Alaska is saddled with a nightmarish election system, in which voters rank four final general-election candidates in order of preference. Just prior to the election filing deadline, a retired teacher named Dan Sullivan filed to run against Sen. Dan Sullivan. It looked like a clear effort to confuse voters staring at that final four ballot.

The Alaska Division of Elections barred the decoy on grounds he filed “with a purpose to confuse or mislead” voters. Decoy Dan filed as a Republican but had no ties to the GOP. He had donated to liberal causes and to Sen. Sullivan’s Democratic challenger, Mary Peltola. He had used a Democratic political consultant with links to Mrs. Peltola. He had asked to be listed as “Dan S. Sullivan,” using the senator’s middle initial, though his own middle initial is J. He created a campaign logo almost identical to the incumbent’s.

Alaska’s Supreme Court allowed Decoy Dan to proceed anyway. He got 2.5% of the primary vote, enough to send him to the final four. Through all this, the Peltola campaign claimed it had nothing to do with the ruse.

But Mrs. Peltola’s former campaign manager, Elisa Rios, told the Times that the campaign began an operation in 2025 to track down other Alaskan Dan Sullivans, coax them to run and confuse voters. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee provided a Democratic operative who specialized in “secret ballot maneuvers,” and he got Decoy Dan to run, according to the Times.

The operative reportedly told the campaign that Decoy Dan said “he hated Trump, and if it was going to help Mary, he liked Mary. He didn’t have any interest in being a politician, but if this could help.”The Times story provides evidence Democrats might have also recruited the fourth candidate on the Senate ballot, Gerald Heikes. The Peltola campaign and DSCC both denied recruiting anyone.

Ms. Rios suddenly told the Times last week: “As discussed on our call earlier today, I am confirming that I have retracted all statements made regarding the 2026 Alaska Senate Race in connection with any article you may or may not be writing.”She added: “I am not willing to be a source for any story in any capacity.”The paper noted that it isn’t bound by her decision to backtrack and that Ms. Rios has planned a wrongful-termination suit against the campaign.

It’s clear Decoy Dan had no interest in actually attaining office. His campaign’s website contains two press releases and six blog posts and was last updated six weeks ago. Its Facebook page features eight entries since the Aug. 18 primary, the last one on Sept. 30. One shares a poem. None feature a single idea, platform or promise.

Decoy Dan has spent no money on staff, advertising, media, travel or campaign events. His listed expenses show $300 to the Alaska election division for a candidate brochure, $4,000 to the Democratic consultant, and more than $20,000 to a Washington law firm for “compliance and legal fees.”His only real fundraising is a link asking for money to cover his litigation costs. According to Federal Election Commission records, he has had five itemized donors for the general election, contributing $5,400.

Three of them live outside Alaska. He’s received zero contributions from any party committee, political action committee, or other candidate. But he has served his purpose: getting his name on the final ballot, in hope that it will confuse enough voters to tip the election to Mrs. Peltola.

Some liberals and ranked-choice supporters now claim Alaska’s system will guard against this chicanery. So long as supporters of the incumbent rank both Dan Sullivans, their vote will go to the senator in the end.

Meaning, so long as every voter knows exactly how to defeat the game, all will be well. Right. This will be Alaskan Republicans’ third experience with ranked-choice voting, and they’ve been advised differently each time. Two years ago, they were told to rank only one candidate for U.S. House election, Nick Begich. That made sense as he was the only Republican. Now they are being told by Donald Trump and the Sullivan campaign to vote for multiple candidates, including one exposed as a fraud.

That’s confusing, and why should voters cast a ballot for a deceptive candidate? Though some will do so inadvertently, especially since his name is the first on the ballot.

Voters are also being purposely misled. A political action committee called the Center for Honest Voting sent a mailer this month to Republican and independent households. It screams: “One person. One vote. One choice,” beside a graphic showing a filled-in first choice and crossed-out additional choices. “President Trump is calling out fraud,” it asserts: “Trust your first choice. Only vote once.”I’ve spoken to numerous supporters of the senator who are deeply confused.

It’s unclear what reach federal law has here, but it isn’t unheard of for a court to disqualify a decoy candidate. And the U.S. Supreme Court has observed that a state has “an interest, if not a duty, to protect the integrity of its political processes from frivolous or fraudulent candidacies.”How much more evidence does the Alaska Supreme Court need that this decoy fits both definitions?

Maybe the election results will be clear enough to make litigation unnecessary. But especially if Senate control ends up hinging on Alaska, the candidacy of Decoy Dan can’t be allowed to stand. Meanwhile, Alaskans will do themselves and the nation a favor if they pass this year’s ballot initiative to ditch ranked-choice voting, which we now know Democrats rigged to swing a Senate election.

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