A Campaign Trick Runs a Look-Alike Name to Steal Votes
The idea is to confuse a few voters in a close race, and both parties tried it in Alaska this year.
The Headlines · Trump Administration Steps Up Midterm Interventions, and Israeli Elections Have No Clear WinnerIn Alaska's race for the United States Senate, operatives aligned with Mary Peltola, the Democratic candidate, were involved in recruiting another Dan Sullivan to run against Dan Sullivan, the Republican incumbent. The goal was not for the second Sullivan to win, but to siphon votes away from the real one.
The tactic has a name: ballot stacking. The steps are simple. First, find someone who shares the rival's name, or a name close enough to confuse voters. Then help that person get on the ballot. When voters fill out their ballots, a few mistake the decoy for the candidate they meant to support, and the rival's total drops.
It is an age-old practice, and both parties have used it for decades. Republicans used it in Alaska this year, too, by boosting other Democrats in the party's primary contest in order to pull votes away from Peltola.
The reason it keeps coming back is that election lawyers generally treat the maneuver as lawful, even if it is misleading. Sharing a candidate's name is not, by itself, treated as a crime.
That has not kept it out of court this year. After reporting on the Democratic effort, the Justice Department sent dozens of subpoenas to people thought to be linked to it. At President Trump's direction, the department also filed a lawsuit to try to stop Alaska officials from making the outcome official should Sullivan narrowly lose, a suit that legal experts say has little chance of succeeding.
Questions people ask
How are voters supposed to tell the two candidates apart?
In most states, the ballot lists more than just the name. It usually shows the party, and sometimes the hometown or whether the person already holds the office, and states publish official voter guides with photos and biographies. Checking those details, rather than voting by name alone, is the best defense.
Could the decoy candidate actually win?
In theory, yes, but in practice almost never. The decoy usually does little or no campaigning and spends little or no money, so the goal is only to draw a small share of confused voters. The effect matters only when the real race is extremely close.
Has anyone ever been punished for ballot stacking?
The name trick itself is generally allowed, but the way signatures, paperwork, or payments are handled may not be. If organizers forge petition signatures, pay someone unlawfully to run, or lie on filing forms, they can face fraud or election charges. That is why investigations tend to focus on how the candidacy was arranged, not just the name.