Alaska Senate race too close to call amid Dan Sullivan controversy

The race for Alaska's Senate seat is still too close to call, and it could all come down to voters' second choices. Yeah, in the meantime, there's a ballot controversy involving two candidates named Dan Sullivan, and that's also looming over this race. Our Sarah Legre, she's live for us in Anchorage tonight. So, Sarah, when will we know who won? Break it down for us. Well, Tim Simone, it could be a matter of weeks at this point until Alaskans get those official results. Right now, though, we've got Democratic challenger Mary Peltola. She's leading this race, but not too far behind. We've got Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan. I mean, the two are neck and neck, only separated here by a few hundred votes. But with neither candidate topping 50% of the vote at this point, as you mentioned, it could come down to voters' second And choices here, Alaskans can rank. Ranked four candidates in order of preference. This is ranked choice voting. If no one gets more than half the vote, the candidate in last place is eliminated. Now, those votes then go to the next choice listed on each ballot, and that process continues on until someone gets a majority. The system itself, though, also on the ballot this year with Alaskans divided over whether or not to keep it. Don't be fooled. I mean, it's a ridiculous voting system. And hopefully, we're gonna prevail this year and basically we won't have to do this again. It's definitely something that I find a lot of value in because you can choose not just one candidate, you can choose multiple candidates. So you're not stuck with one specific candidate. Ranked Choice puts new attention on two other names in this race that Republicans argue are pulling thousands of votes away from the incumbent. Republican Gerald Hikes has nearly 5,000 votes. And then there's Dan J. Sullivan, the so-called decoy candidate. He's got more than 3,000. He shares a name with the incumbent senator. And days before the election, an explosive New York Times report raised questions about whether or not Democratic aides from Paltola's campaign helped recruit him to siphon votes away from Senator Sullivan. Now the FBI's Investigating issuing dozens of subpoenas. There's no real dispute that he was put on the ballot for the very purpose we're talking about. And the question really is what will the investigations uncover? Will there be any conspiracy? Will there be a perjury? Alaska is still accepting mail-in ballots, and ranked choice counting is scheduled for November 18th. Now, those results would be certified by November 25th. Guys, that's the day before Thanksgiving, still quite some time away. In Anchorage, Alaska, Sarah Allegre, Fox 9. We're going to be watching this one. Thanks, Sarah.