Alaskan write-in candidate Lisa Murkowski claimed 98 percent of the write-in ballots that were counted on Wednesday. Election officials started the five day process of counting the 92,500 write-in ballots. The Democrat in the race, Scott McAdams has conceded. Republican Joe Miller and Murkowski are locked in a close race for the Alaska Senate seat. Murkowski has had the edge and is expected to win with almost all the write-in ballots expected to go her way. An early tally of 19,203 ballots showed Murkowski winning 89 percent of the write-in vote without dispute. Another 8.5 percent of the ballots counted for her were contested. There were two write-in votes for "Joe Miller."
"So far things look really good for us," Murkowski campaign manager Kevin Sweeney told the Anchorage Daily News. While the laborious count is conducted, there are observers and lawyers from both candidates present. Miller’s observers are quick to challenge any ballot that is misspelled or difficult to read. Murkowski spokesman John Tracy suggested some of the challenges were frivolous. "This isn’t supposed to be a penmanship test," he said.
The ballot count began despite a lawsuit that was filed on behalf of the Miller campaign. Miler’s camp believes that Murkowski’s name has to be spelled correctly in order to count by law. A judge Wednesday refused to stop the count while Miller’s complaint is being considered and set briefing schedules for next week. Election officials point to case law and declared their plans to use discretion in determining voter intent when reading ballots with Murkowski’s name misspelled. Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai made the decision to use common sense prior to the election. “If I can pronounce the name by the way it’s spelled, that’s the standard I’m using," Fenumiai said.
Miller spokesman Randy DeSoto said the campaign remained cautiously optimistic and was determined to see the counting process through. The next step after the counting process is certainly court. The deadline to file a case is next month. Murkowski would make history as the first Senate candidate to win a write-in campaign since 1954, when Strom Thurmond became the second Senator to pull off the feat. Although election officials hoped to have the count done by Friday, it will likely last until early next week.
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