Alaska Prepares to Fight Over Write-In Ballots
The Wall Street Journal reports:
In Alaska, where Sen. Lisa Murkowski is mounting a write-in campaign to hold on to her seat, officials and candidates are gearing up for possible legal wrangling over which misspellings of her name should be counted in her favor.
Ms. Murkowski decided on a write-in campaign after Joe Miller, a lawyer supported by tea-party groups, pulled off an upset in the August Republican primary. Scott McAdams is running on the Democratic side.
Now, as Ms. Murkowski closes the gap with Mr. Miller in the polls, the question of how each vote will be counted becomes especially pertinent. In a Rasmussen Poll last week, which mentioned Ms. Murkowski's name, 35% of respondents chose Mr. Miller, 34% opted for Ms. Murkowski and 27% favored Mr. McAdams.
"I really think it's going to be a challenged, contested race," said Lt. Gov. Craig Campbell, who oversees elections in Alaska.
Alaska regulations say a voter has to write a write-in candidate's last name or name as it appears on the person's candidacy paperwork for the vote to qualify. But in past election quarrels, the Alaska Supreme Court has ruled that votes for a candidate should be counted as long as the voter's intent was clear. That has raised questions about which misspellings of Ms. Murkowski's name would be close enough to fit that requirement.
Mr. Campbell said that, after consulting with the state attorney general, he instructed the Division of Elections to make a "reasonable judgment" about misspellings. But those judgments could be subject to disagreement. Misspellings of Ms. Murkowski's last name are probably fine, Mr. Campbell said, adding that "there is no hard line that says, 'We'll accept a Y, but we won't accept a C over a K.' " He said he advised election officials not to accept "just Lisa" as a vote for Ms. Murkowski. But he says all this could change before the ballot counting.
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