Spoiled Ballots Over ‘Decoy Dan’ Add New Twist to Alaska’s Senate Nail-Biter
6th November 2026
As of Friday, at least 90 ballots have been tossed for Alaska voters who marked both U.S. Senate candidates named Dan Sullivan as their first choice, in a race where the top two candidates are separated by fewer than 700 votes.
The campaign of Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan anticipates the number of tossed ballots will grow.
Democrat Mary Peltola is on a path to winning the first round of voting in the Senate race, with a lead of fewer than 700 votes over the incumbent GOP senator. More than 20% of the vote has yet to come in, with a deadline of Nov. 13 for mail ballots to arrive that are postmarked by Election Day.
However, the 3,600 votes for independent candidate Dan J. Sullivan more than compensate for the divide at the top, even as he runs behind third-place Gerald Heikes, a Republican with more than 4,800 votes.
Ranked-choice voting only works in a small organization or if the process can be automated. Otherwise it takes forever.