Joe Miller today announced that 37,000 absentee ballots are being counted throughout Alaska and the count of write-in ballots begins tomorrow. Since many of the absentee ballots are military, Miller is "cautiously optimistic" that he will do well there. Miller discussed the absentee ballots with Mark Levin yesterday in a 10-minute interview.
Joe Miller is one of Governor Palin's 73 endorsed candidates, but she has expended significant effort beyond endorsement to help the Miller campaign, including a legal maximum donation from SarahPAC, and stumping for him at numerous venues. Governor Palin's work for the Miller campaign propelled him to an upset win in the August 24 primary.
Subsequently, Sen. Murkowski launched a write-in campaign; however, some 160 angry Alaskans listed themselves as write-in candidates following a court ruling that permitted lists of write-in candidate names to be present at polling sites. "Write-in" which encompasses all 160 write-in candidates has 41% of the vote. Miller has 34%, and Democrat Scott McAdams lost obtaining only 24% of the vote. To win, Murkowski must have more than 34% of the vote. The combination of her being in a field of 160 write-in candidates and the tendency for between 5% and 6% of write-in ballots to be invalid are not favorable to a Murkowski win. "Because the Division of Elections has not issued a clear ruling on how exact the write-in name on ballots must be, we anticipate possible legal challenges," Miller wrote in an email blast sent today.
Murkowski and her high-powered connections have engaged in what could kindly be called "electoral irregularities," including illegal electioneering by a federal contractor, and validating absentee ballots without required notification. As delineated in this email advertisement, Murkowski is in Washington, DC, palling around with lobbyists and inside-the-Beltway power brokers.
The final stage of this election starts today. Throughout Alaska, absentee ballots are being counted, and we’re preparing for write-in ballots to begin tomorrow.
We have dozens of volunteers around the state and dozens more heading to Juneau for tomorrow's count of the write-in ballots. We are trying to fund transportation, lodging, and meals for all of these great Alaskans.
Through our new legal fund, the Joe Miller for U.S. Senate Legal Fund, you can send additional donations even if you contributed the maximum legal limit prior to the election.
We’re on the ground and carefully monitoring the process with our teams of volunteers and legal counsel.
The same can’t be said for my opponent.
This week, Lisa Murkowski flew back early to Washington, D.C. in anticipation of a fundraiser thrown by her insider friends.
The Senate’s Lame Duck session doesn’t begin until next week, but it seems as though my opponent couldn’t wait to get back to the Beltway and out of Alaska.
While we’re engaged in the ballot counting process and making sure that Alaska’s laws are upheld, Lisa Murkowski is thousands of miles away.
In many ways, the real battle starts tomorrow when the write-in ballots begin to be counted…and my opponent is on the other side of the country.
Because the Division of Elections has not issued a clear ruling on how exact the write-in name on ballots must be, we anticipate possible legal challenges.
Alaska’s statute on write-in candidates is clear. The name that is written in on the ballot must match the name of the write-in candidate registered with the Division of Elections.
Seeing some of the sudden decisions and arbitrary announcements from the Division of Elections, we know that we face an uphill battle.
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