Anchorage, AK, United States (AHN) – Republican candidate Joe Miller has filed a lawsuit to prevent state officials from counting write-in ballots that misspell the name of Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Election officials have said the process will be guided by voter intent.
“We want a fair election, and we want the law to be followed as written, not as a state employee wants it to be,” Miller, who trails Murkowski by a significant margin if write-in votes are counted for the senator, said in a statement.
Miller wants election officials to follow statutory law that says write-in votes “shall be counted if the oval is filled in for that candidate and if the name, as it appears on the write-in declaration of candidacy, of the candidate or the last name of the candidate is written in the space provided.”
He filed the lawsuit on Tuesday, the same day election officials began counting absentee and write-in ballots. The Tea Party conservative is hoping for a court hearing by Wednesday afternoon.
According to the Alaska Division of Elections, the counting of write-in votes will have state Elections Director Gail Fenumiai determining voter intent in ballots that have a name that “appears to be a variation or misspelling of Murkowski or Lisa Murkowski.”
But Thomas Van Flein, legal counsel for Miller, argues, “It is our view that the state improperly deviated from the text of the statute, and is substituting a subjective ‘voter intent’ standard and essentially repealing the legislative objective standard sub silentio.”
Miller, a Tea Party candidate who unexpectedly defeated Murkowski in the GOP primary, had 34 percent of the votes when ballots except for absentee and write-in ballots were tallied last week. Democrat Scott McAdams, who has conceded the race, trailed with 24 percent.
The bulk of votes, 41 percent or 83,201, are write-in ballots that Murkowski, a moderate Republican seeking to keep a seat formerly held by her father, believes are votes for her.
The latest update from the Alaska Division of Elections had Miller at 35.28 percent after gaining some votes. Lt. Gov. Craig Campbell, who is in charge of overseeing elections, has made clear that any write-in ballots “cast properly” for Miller will be counted.
The contest in Alaska is the only undecided Senate race. The lawsuit is the first legal challenge in what was expected to be a drawn-out process. Both Miller and Murkowski had assembled their legal teams last week.
Murkowski has issued statements short of declaring victory, thanking supporters for a “historic” achievement. She will be the first to win a Senate write-in campaign if she succeeds since Strom Thurmond in 1954.
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