Alaska's Senate race is still uncalled, and the count runs to November 18 under the shadow of the second Sullivan on the ballot

Alaska counts slowly by design. The state takes ballots postmarked by Election Day for up to 15 days, and if no Senate candidate clears 50 percent of the first choice votes, the ranked choice tabulation is scheduled for November 18, with certification aimed at November 25. The AP had 72.21 percent of precincts reporting on Wednesday and no call. Peltola led in the first returns reported on Tuesday night, with the other Sullivan drawing about 1.5 percent in those early figures.

The other Sullivan is Daniel J. Sullivan, a retired teacher from Petersburg, a fishing town in the Alaska Panhandle that can only be reached by air and sea. The New York Times reported last week, from interviews, text messages and documents, that people working with Peltola's campaign and national Democrats searched voter records for Alaskans named Dan Sullivan and recruited one to run, in an effort the Times said was called the ballot composition project inside the campaign. Peltola denies any involvement. "I knew nothing about any other candidates on the ballot except for me and the incumbent. That is all I have ever known about," she said at a rally last week. "I am not interested in tricking voters. I know I can beat Dan Sullivan."

The Justice Department sued on October 22 to stop Alaska from certifying the result if Senator Sullivan lost, arguing the second candidate's name could confuse voters and asking that ballots cast for him be set aside. Chief Judge Sharon Gleason dismissed the case on November 1 in a 20 page order, ruling that the government had not shown a court could fix the harm it described and had offered no workable way to separate those ballots without exposing how people voted. The department appealed the same day. A separate criminal investigation is still open, and the United States Attorney for Alaska, Michael Heyman, has declined to name its targets or the crimes under review. State investigators are running their own inquiry.

Senator Sullivan campaigned on the issue in the final days and called the candidacy fake and corrupt. Trump backed the senator and called the second name on the ballot fraud against him. Those charges are allegations, and no court has ruled that the candidacy itself was illegal. What is settled is the timetable: the ballots still coming in by mail decide the first count, and November 18 decides the race if nobody reaches half.