Mary Peltola denies knowledge as party accused of recruiting spoiler candidate with same name as sitting Republican

• Alaska Senate race: what to know about Democrats’ alleged ballot-stacking effort

The top federal prosecutor in Alaska confirmed on Friday the existence of a criminal and a civil investigation into an alleged scheme by Democrats to confuse voters by recruiting a spoiler candidate on the ballot for US Senate who shares a name with the Republican incumbent, senator Dan Sullivan.

Speaking at a news conference in Anchorage on Friday, US attorney Michael Heyman cited reporting by the New York Times which suggested that the Senate campaign of Democrat Mary Peltola and national Democrats had, in his words, “orchestrated a sprawling conspiracy to recruit and prop up Daniel J Sullivan as a sham candidate”.

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© Photograph: Nathaniel Wilder/Bloomberg via Getty Images

© Photograph: Nathaniel Wilder/Bloomberg via Getty Images

© Photograph: Nathaniel Wilder/Bloomberg via Getty Images

A federal judge gave the government until noon on Friday to share which states had received letters trying to enlist them in an effort to find evidence of voter fraud.

© Madison Swart for The New York Times