Justice Department seeks to isolate Alaska ballots as criminal probe underway over Senate candidate

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice pushed Friday for a court order to isolate certain Alaska ballots to investigate potential voter confusion, while federal officials confirmed the existence of a criminal probe over a Senate candidate who shares a name with the Republican incumbent.

The dueling developments came days before Tuesday's ranked choice general election, in a race headlined by two-term Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola. The race is among a handful nationwide expected to determine control of the Senate.

Alaska U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman told reporters in Anchorage that the investigation has been ongoing for several months, but recent revelations from The New York Times that Peltola’s campaign appeared to be involved in recruiting retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan have resulted in a “significant surge of law enforcement assets to Alaska."

Separately, the Justice Department — as part of a lawsuit it filed last week — asked a judge to order that state elections officials isolate ballots ranking Dan J. Sullivan to investigate potential voter “confusion” with the senator.

Alaska Assistant U.S. Attorney E. Bryan Wilson, in a filing, said the government “seeks to preserve and segregate all ballots ranking Daniel J. Sullivan for the purposes of investigating whether such ranking was the product of voter confusion, should such an investigation become necessary.”

The Department of Justice also filed with the court a list of proposed questions it seeks to compel the Peltola campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to answer as part of the civil case seeking to block certification of the Senate race if the incumbent loses. President Donald Trump has said he told the department to file the case.

Peltola denied Thursday that she knew anything about the effort to put Dan J. Sullivan on the ballot. Democrats, including the DSCC, have repeatedly denied that they were involved in any campaign trick. Dan J. Sullivan has long denied he was running at Democrats’ behest.

The request to segregate the ballots in Alaska comes after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Justice Department’s request for California to set aside disputed ballots received in the midterm election sent to some 20,000 people the administration contends may not be U.S. citizens. California officials argued the list is highly unreliable and most likely includes many people who are U.S. citizens.

Department attorneys in the Alaska case said there is a “substantial risk” that Dan J. Sullivan's candidacy “will mislead voters and ultimately result in an electoral process that lacks integrity.”

“To guard against this danger, the United States seeks an order directing Defendants to preserve and segregate all ballots ranking Daniel J. Sullivan for the purposes of investigating whether such ranking was the product of voter confusion, should such an investigation become necessary,” the filing states. It requests a decision by Monday.

Attorneys for the state have argued that Alaska elections officials already took steps to distinguish the two Sullivans on the ballot. The senator is listed as Dan S. Sullivan, Republican and incumbent, while the challenger is listed as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., with no party affiliation. That's the same way in which they appeared on the August open primary ballot.

They also have argued that the state’s ranked voting system further addresses concerns about potential confusion by allowing voters to rank both Sullivans.

Heyman on Friday would not say what potential crimes authorities are looking into or the targets of the probe, but asked members of the public to come forward with tips that could help investigators.

It’s highly unusual for Justice Department officials to publicly discuss a criminal investigation or even confirm its existence. The timing of the press conference is particularly notable given the Justice Department has had a longstanding practice of avoiding taking public steps in the weeks leading up to an election that could be perceived as attempting to influence a political outcome.

At a campaign event in Juneau late Thursday, Peltola began her speech by saying she wanted to “clear the air.”

“I knew nothing about any other candidates on the ballot except for me and the incumbent. That is all I have ever known about," Peltola said. "I am not interested in tricking voters.”

Federal prosecutors this week issued dozens of grand jury subpoenas and requests to preserve records, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said, following The New York Times' reporting, that he'd ordered an investigation into whether any violations took place.

Meanwhile, the Alaska Democratic Party sued state elections officials Friday, alleging absentee in-person voting sites did not open as advertised in some rural communities. The director of the Division of Elections in a letter dated Monday said the agency signs agreements with local or tribal offices to operate the sites and that most of the 18 highlighted had opened. A message seeking comment from the state Department of Law was not immediately returned.

Durkin Richer reported from Washington. Bohrer reported from Juneau, Alaska.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Matthew Schlegel of the Anchorage field office participates in a news conference on a criminal investigation related to an alleged scheme to confuse voters by putting a Senate candidate on the ballot with the same name as the Republican incumbent, at the James M. Fitzgerald U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, in Anchorage, Alaska. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

U.S. Attorney for the District of Alaska Michael J. Heyman holds a news conference on a criminal investigation related to an alleged scheme to confuse voters by putting a Senate candidate on the ballot with the same name as the Republican incumbent, at the James M. Fitzgerald U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, in Anchorage, Alaska. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

U.S. Attorney for the District of Alaska Michael J. Heyman holds a news conference on a criminal investigation related to an alleged scheme to confuse voters by putting a Senate candidate on the ballot with the same name as the Republican incumbent, at the James M. Fitzgerald U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, in Anchorage, Alaska. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

FILE - This combination photo shows Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, left, in Palmer, Alaska, Aug. 17, 2026, and a candidate in Alaska's Senate race, Dan Sullivan, right, in Petersburg, Alaska, July 3, 2026. (AP Photos/Mark Thiessen/Becky Bohrer, File)

Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola speaks during a campaign event Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026, in Juneau, Alaska. (AP Photo/Chloe Anderson)

A sample election ballot is displayed in Anchorage, Alaska, on Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)

An experienced pilot was on a test run in a helicopter and a 22-year-old flight instructor with a student pilot from the United Kingdom were in another when the two aircraft collided midair in Oregon and crashed into a farm field, killing all three.

Details about the three victims were still emerging Friday, as the National Transportation Safety Board said a team was on its way to examine the wreckage from the previous day's crash. Law enforcement photos showed a red helicopter lying crumpled in a farm field, while a green helicopter came to rest upside down.

The crash happened around 2 p.m. Thursday on a cloudy day, a few miles east of the airport in McMinnville. The town, about an hour’s drive southwest of Portland, lies in the broad, flat Willamette Valley near the foothills of the Coast Range, in the heart of Oregon’s wine country.

Leo Rodriguez was working on a nearby barn roof at his family’s winery when the helicopters collided.

“There was an explosion mid-air,” he told KPTV. “I bent over to do something and then, boom, and I look up and the planes were already going down.”

Rodriguez said the tail end of the larger helicopter was struck, then it turned and began going toward the ground. He said the other helicopter fell straight down.

“It just happened so fast,” he said.

Few details were immediately available about the collision. The smaller Robinson R22 helicopter was on an instructional flight, according to the NTSB. The Airbus AS350B3 helicopter was on a maintenance flight, which are typically done after maintenance or repair.

The victims included 38-year-old Tyler Sturdevant, a pilot from Oregon, 22-year-old Maddie Aasbo, a flight instructor from Texas, and a 31-year-old student pilot from the United Kingdom, whose name has not been released, Yamhill County Sheriff Sam Elliott said during a news conference.

Aasbo graduated from the wildlife management program of Southwest Texas College, in Uvalde, and was a member of its rodeo team from 2021 to 2023, according to a post on the group's Facebook.

The post described her as a brave, bold and independent woman who also worked for large hunting ranches in Texas and spent time in New Mexico and Alaska. In Oregon, the group said, she “had found ultimate freedom in the air as a helicopter pilot and instructor.”

“Her sudden passing has left us equally stunned and heartbroken,” it said. “It is beyond difficult to find the words worthy of a young woman of her caliber and impact-fulness.”

The owners of the two helicopters — Jerry Trimble Helicopters and Precision — both said they are cooperating with authorities on the investigation while trying to help the grieving families of the victims.

Precision, a helicopter charter and maintenance company that also helps fly drone missions for the military, said in a post on Instagram that Sturdevant was their “beloved” senior pilot.

“Tyler has touched countless lives, not only through his love of flying, but through the many pilots he mentored, encouraged, and helped along the way,” Precision posted. “His legacy lives on in every pilot he helped bring up and every life he made a difference in.”

His LinkedIn page says he worked as a pilot examiner for the Federal Aviation Administration for the past four years while continuing to work at Precision for more than 20 years.

In 2021, Sturdevant's wife, Monica Sturdevant, nominated him as a community hero on an Oregon Facebook group. She described him as a great husband and father who missed celebrating Father's Day with them that year because he was helping fight forest fires.

She also said he signed up to be an Angel Flight pilot in his free time to help transport people to important medical appointments.

“He’s not doing it for recognition, or because he expects anything in return, but simply because of his compassion for people, and I couldn’t be more proud of him,” Sturdevant said.

The Jerry Trimble school offers everything from demo flights for first-time flyers to advanced training.

Associated Press writers Jamie Stengle in Dallas, Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.

This photo released by the Yamhill County Sheriff's Office shows a damaged helicopter after two helicopters collided and crashed into a farm field in Yamhill County, Ore. Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (Yamhill County Sheriff's Office via AP)

This photo released by the Yamhill County Sheriff's Office shows a damaged helicopter after two helicopters collided and crashed into a farm field in Yamhill County, Ore., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (Yamhill County Sheriff's Office via AP)