Midterm Election Day: DOJ Escalates Alaska Senate Probe, Weather Hits Key States, Maine Eyes Ranked-Choice Count

Since polls opened this morning, Tuesday, Nov. 3, the biggest development has come from outside the voting booth: the Justice Department is escalating a criminal investigation into the Alaska Senate race, according to sources who spoke to ABC News.

DOJ widens Alaska Senate investigation

Prosecutors are in the process of issuing more than 100 subpoenas and at least 20 letters telling individuals they are targets of the probe, ABC News reported today, citing sources familiar with the matter. The investigation has moved "at an aggressive clip" in recent days, those sources said.

The acceleration followed a New York Times account last week of alleged efforts by Democrats, and some people in Democratic candidate Mary Peltola's campaign, to recruit a retired teacher, Daniel J. Sullivan, to appear on the ballot alongside incumbent Republican Dan S. Sullivan. Two candidates with near-identical names on one ballot is the alleged goal. Those are allegations. They are unproven.

The target letters are going to Democrats investigators believe were involved in the recruitment effort, ABC's sources said. A target letter signals that prosecutors consider someone a subject of the investigation. It is not an indictment, and no charges have been announced. A DOJ spokesperson did not immediately respond to ABC's request for comment.

Alaska is also the last state to finish voting. Its polls close at 1 a.m. ET, per CBS News' schedule of closing times.

Weather and extended hours

Voters in several key states are dealing with severe weather today, ABC News reported in its live updates. The same feed said North Carolina could extend voting hours in four counties. The sources do not name the counties or give a reason, and no extension had been confirmed as of 2:56 p.m. ET.

Maine: record turnout, possible ranked-choice count

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said today the state is on track to break its midterm turnout record. The 2022 midterm drew 62 percent of eligible voters. Bellows said she expects 65 or even 70 percent, noting that over a third of registered voters already voted early.

She also said it is "highly possible" the U.S. Senate race goes to ranked-choice voting, which would delay a result. Towns count ballots on election night but have two business days to report. "By Thursday, we'll know the official results from all of the towns," Bellows said, and whether ranked-choice tabulation is needed.

Bellows, a Democrat who ran in the party's gubernatorial primary, defended Maine's paper-ballot system as the "gold standard."

The open governor's race is on the same ballot. Democrat Hannah Pingree, a former state House speaker, faces Republican Bobby Charles, a lawyer and former George W. Bush administration official, and independent Rick Bennett, a former Republican state Senate president. Democratic Senate nominee Troy Jackson told supporters at a Portland canvass launch that the election is "about the people of Maine," not just the Senate.

In Maine's 2nd District, an open seat Democrats currently control, Republican nominee Paul LePage said he would work with House Republicans "to make sure that DSA does not survive." Asked how he would fight Democrats if they retake the House, he said: "I will stop and stop and stop and I will uphold vetoes."

Nebraska and Texas

Nebraska has become an unexpected problem for Republicans. Incumbent Sen. Pete Ricketts faces independent Dan Osborn, a union organizer who led a 77-day Kellogg's strike in Omaha in 2021 and came within 7 points of Sen. Deb Fischer in 2024. The Democratic nominee, Cindy Burbank, dropped out in July.

Osborn says he will caucus with neither party. Republicans say the Democratic donor money he has received shows he would side with Democrats. Ricketts had raised $14.5 million as of mid-October to Osborn's $11 million.

Tariffs and higher fuel prices have hit Nebraska's farm and manufacturing sectors, and beef producers have opposed Trump's effort to import more beef, according to the Associated Press. Osborn has leaned on Ricketts' background as the son of the TD Ameritrade founder to cast him as an out-of-touch insider.

In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton, who beat Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican runoff, faces Democratic state Rep. James Talarico. AdImpact puts ad spending in that race above $500 million.

Michigan split continues

Former Rep. Justin Amash said Monday that he voted for neither Democrat Abdul El-Sayed nor Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan's Senate race. He added that El-Sayed would "be far less dangerous in practice than Rogers." Rogers cast his ballot this morning.

What comes next

The first polls close at 7 p.m. ET, with larger blocs at 8 and 9 p.m. California and other Western states follow at 11 p.m. Maine's town-level results are legally due by Thursday, Nov. 5. Whether Alaska's ballot-recruitment allegations produce charges is a separate question that the DOJ has not answered publicly.