Alaska’s two ‘Dan Sullivans’: How common is ballot stacking, does it work?

The Alaska Senate ballot in the next week’s midterm elections in the United States features two candidates with the name Dan Sullivan – one the incumbent Republican senator and another a retired teacher with no prior political experience.Last week, The New York Times reported that aides to Mary Peltola, the Alaska Democrat challenging Republican Senator Sullivan for a crucial seat, helped recruit candidates bearing names similar to Sullivan’s in an apparent bid to manipulate the ballot and siphon votes from the incumbent.The controversy has triggered a political firestorm in the US, and prompted President Donald Trump to order a Justice Department investigation into alleged voter fraud.“It was a scheme. It was election fraud. Total election fraud,” Trump said. Peltola has rejected the accusations, saying the dispute is distracting from voters’ concerns.On Friday, US Attorney Michael Heyman said Democrats had “orchestrated a sprawling conspiracy to recruit and prop up Daniel J Sullivan as a sham candidate”, adding that “we are taking that extremely seriously”.So, how common is this electoral tactic – and does it work? We look at history to find out.US President Donald Trump speaks a...