India, Aug. 19 -- Alaska voters went to the polls on Tuesday to narrow a crowded field of Senate contenders in one of the most closely watched primaries of this year's midterm cycle, a contest complicated by an unusual quirk: two candidates sharing the exact same name on a single ballot.

Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan, seeking a third term in the Senate, faced Democratic former congresswoman Mary Peltola and a separate candidate also named Dan Sullivan, a retired schoolteacher from the small island community of Petersburg with no relation to the senator, after a months long legal battle over whether the latter should be permitted to appear on the ballot at all. Under Alaska's open primary system, all candidates from every party com...